Going to Galilee
First century cave-dwelling in Nazareth
“Jesus met Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’” - Matthew 28:9 NRSV
In all four of the Gospels, the resurrection accounts of Christ involve movement of some type. In the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark, the movement is to tell the other disciples to go to Galilee for that is where they will encounter the risen Christ. in the Gospel according to Luke, it is while walking the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus that two disciples encounter the risen Christ on the road - first as a stranger and then later to recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread. In the Gospel according to John, it is Mary Magdalene who is sent to the other disciples to tell them that Jesus is “ascending to my Father and your Father; to my God and your God.” No matter which Gospel text we are reading, there is movement from the place of the tomb outwards into the wilds of the cosmos.
The time of Lent was a time for tarrying, for waiting to see how God will act in the world. We tarry in the ways that we take up a new spiritual practice, fast from particular foods, and commit ourselves to studying and reflecting on God’s holy Word. It is a time in which we develop our spiritual muscles a little bit more as we practice spiritual practices to encounter the Risen Christ once again for the first time. And, when the season of Lent is over, it moves into a season of movement, of joyfulness, of praising God for the way that God acted in the resurrection event as recorded in the Gospel and for the ways that God continues to act in the world today. The season of tarrying comes to an abrupt end and pushes us to get moving out into the world with the gladness that comes in our own encounters with the Risen Christ.
The tarrying that we have done in the Lenten season is one of the things that prepares us to get moving and once moving to keep moving. It is in our tarrying with Christ through the Lenten season that we are equipped spiritually to take up the ministry of sharing the good news and to become evangelists in our own ways. Now, we are in the season in which we are being asked in at least two of the four Gospel texts to go to Galilee. Now, in the Biblical text, it is pretty clear that Galilee is an actual place with actual people. It is the place that the journey from, with, and towards God begins for many of the disciples who continue to follow Jesus. For us, it is left for us to ponder what our “Galilee” might be.
it seems to me that our version of Galilee is going to be an important part of our own spiritual stories. For some of us, it might be going (or staying) in the place in which our whole lives began. If we are still living in our hometown, we are being invited to take up the message of the Gospel in a place we know very, very well. It is also an invitation to take up the Gospel in a place in which we are known very, very well.
For many if not most of us, however, we are not living in the place in which our lives began. But, we very well may be living in a place that is significant to our spiritual story. We may be living in the place in which we first had our encounter with the Risen Christ, and it is in this place that we are told to go to encounter the Risen Christ. We are invited to be in this particular context, with particular people, who have a particular story. Our version of Galilee, then, might be the place that is our hometown in which we were awakened to our spiritual journey. Here, we are invited to become people of the resurrection who are able to preach the “beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)
And then, there are those of us who find ourselves in a particular location that is neither the place we began our lives nor a place that has been spiritually significant. Instead, it is other forms of opportunity that have brought us to a particular place in this particular time in our lives. Galilee in this case is the place in which we find ourselves for this season of our lives. It is in our current particularity that we are called forward into the movement we call resurrection. Here, we are called to ministry among the people we know in our work lives, our social lives, our church lives, our play lives, our parenting lives. Our place of meeting the Risen Christ is the place we find ourselves, and it is here that we are able to encounter the Risen Christ again for the first time.
Today, we get moving, once again, on our spiritual journey from, with, and toward God. We begin in the places we exist, and as we are going, the Risen Christ suddenly meets us and says, “Greetings!”
For reflection:
Take a moment to reflect on your version of Galilee. How would you characterize the place in which Christ is telling you to go to meet him? Describe your Galilee in as much detail as you can.
Given your description of your “Galilee,” how is the Risen Christ calling you into the movement of the resurrection? What ministry are you being called to take up?
Reflect on your spiritual journey. When did you first encounter the Risen Christ? When was your most recent encounter with the Risen Christ? How were these encounters similar? How were they different?
