Easter Sunday 2026: April 5th.: "Do not be afraid, return to your Galilee and there you will see me — again and again."

It seems so easy for us to proclaim the Resurrection. After all, we've known the story for as long as we've known about Jesus. We can look at the crucifix because we know it's just the horrific prelude to the best news in the world.

The women who went to the tomb on that third day had no idea about an ending to Jesus' story beyond what they had seen. They could not erase the memory of the dying Jesus crying out in the darkness. Earth shook, the hidden Holy of Holies was exposed, ghosts wandered the earth and the guards trembled. These women had followed Jesus' friends to the tomb. They watched the stone seal at the end of the story and kept vigil there until the Sabbath.

As the women returned on the third day, the Earth quaked again. Now, in place of a sealed tomb, they saw an angel sweep in, roll away the stone and sit atop it. As the guards shook like the trembling Earth, the angel answered the question the dumbfounded women could find no voice to ask: "Do not be afraid, he has been raised. Go now! Tell the disciples to go to Galilee where you will all see him."

Like Joseph before Jesus' birth, they obeyed the angelic command and set off in wonder-filled confusion. Before they could reach the others, Jesus came to them. As they fell at his feet, clinging to him like a child to a father's leg, he repeated everything the angel had said and repeated their commission as the first apostles of his resurrection. Jesus missioned them to send the disciples on the 100-mile journey to Galilee where he would meet them. 

Going to Galilee implied starting again. There they had been called and began their discipleship. It was their starting place. 

By obeying the women who had seen the risen Lord, the disciples who had been terrified into flight and betrayed Jesus could start again. Now, they began to realize that Jesus' death was anything but the end of his story. Living into that new understanding, Peter could preach Jesus' Gospel instead of his own version of messianism. 

Peter reinterpreted what people already knew about Jesus. God had anointed him with the Spirit and power. God had raised him up, vanquishing the powers of death. Peter announced the forgiveness of sin, the good news that divine love absorbs and transforms evil, drawing everything into the unfathomable life of God.

That's what Paul meant by saying that we've passed with Christ from death to life. No longer can we say, "It is what it is." Christ draws us into his own life: loving without end. As Mary sang, "This was unexpected." (see the link to the song from Jesus Christ Superstar below)

We probably resemble Mary and friends more than we think. We profess the Resurrection in our creed. We hope for a good afterlife. But the question remains: Does our day-to-day reflect the fact that our real life, as Paul says, is "hidden in Christ"? Are we living the power of Christ's resurrection?

This mystery is too much for us to comprehend. Sometimes, like the women, we cling to the Jesus we know. Then he says, "There's more. Move on." 

The news of the Resurrection sends us back to our own Galilees, the moments and places where we were touched by Christ, the times when the God of creation overwhelmed us with beauty such that all we could do was give thanks for the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing. These are the moments when we experience the Spirit of God with and in us. They are but a hint of what can be and is even now happening. 

Resurrection faith keeps returning us to the best we've known. It prods us to allow the Spirit to reveal unexpected dimensions of what is, was, and is to come. On this Easter morn, let us heed the command to start again, to reinterpret everything in our own lives and all of history in the light of Christ's definitive victory over evil. 

We can start again — and again. It will never be the same because our lives, still hidden in Christ, are unfolding under the influence of the Spirit. Time and again, we will ask, "What do I do now?" 

Jesus continues to respond, "Do not be afraid, return to your Galilee and there you will see me — again and again."

Here's the song from Jesus Christ Superstar referred to in the reflection (with a YouTube link at the bottom):

Verse 1: Mary Magdalene & Disciples]

I've been living to see you

Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this

This was unexpected; what do I do now?

Could we start again please?

Could we start again please?

[Verse 2: Mary Magdalene & Disciples]

I've been very hopeful so far

Now for the first time, I think we're going wrong

Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream

Or could we start again please?

Could we start again please?

In the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar," just after Jesus' arrest, Mary Magdalene sings "Could We Start Again Please." In the name of all Jesus' friends, she laments: "This was unexpected. What do I do now? Could we start again please?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLwi5N4vI3Y