Mark 16: 1-8
Today, on Easter, if I were to ask, “What is the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?”, how would you respond? Not what happened two thousand years ago, but what does it mean to each of us today?
This message, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed,” is the one we have heard many times. He is alive? If Jesus is alive, now what?
Are we going to have more trouble? No. Will there be more killing these days? Absolutely not.
Where are we to go? The third country to proclaim the good news of the Gospel? Well, some people have gone, not us.
Well, that might sound odd to those of you who don’t have to put effort into making a friend,
especially for those who were born, raised, and schooled here in town; because they may have been crossing each other’s path here and there.
That is how I have been learning and experiencing what “everyone knows everyone” means in a small town.
Nevertheless, I have been looking for a chance to start a conversation—to introduce myself
and to start a casual conversation. If it goes well, I always ask them, “Do you have a church home?”
So far, I have reached out with this question four to five times, and introduced myself as a pastor
and invited them to this church, “Come and check with us on Sunday! We are small, a bit tiny, but we are loving, caring, and welcoming.”
So far, my score may still be a zero out of five. Yet, do you know what gives me courage to try it again? When I asked them, “Do you have a church home?,” all of their answers were “No” or “They have been finding.”
Yes, the opportunity has come and opened for you and me. The only thing we need to have is to have courage, the divine courage in order to serve, love, and welcome others. And to share and proclaim the message of the resurrection.
What today’s passage tells us that God dwells in the empty tomb while the risen Christ may stand there and wait to be noticed by a person who has divine courage to take another step inside of the empty tomb like the three women did at the very first Easter morning.
Death is not the last word. Hate and anger are not the last actions. Grief and fear are not the last feelings. “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.”
Amen.