Go to Galilee
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Matthew 28:1-10
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SERMON: Go to Galilee
Here's a riddle for you: Where, exactly, were the disciples when the risen Lord first appeared to them? If you said, "Jerusalem," give yourself a pat on the back. You're exactly right.
According to John, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden in the early hours of Sunday morning; then, that night, he appeared to his disciples back in the Upper Room where they were hiding from the Jews behind closed doors. John writes,
"Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be to you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord." (John 20:19-20)
Luke says virtually the same thing. According to Luke, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women in the garden; then, that afternoon, he met two men on the road to Emmaus. They invited him to their home for supper, and, as he broke bread with them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. They rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others, and, according to Luke, as they were talking to the disciples, Jesus himself stood among them. And, just so they wouldn't think they'd seen an apparition, he asked for something to eat, and they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it in front of them. (Luke 24:36-43)
So, there you have it: Jesus first appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem. But wait, according to Mark, when Mary Magdalene and the other women went into the empty tomb, they saw an angel who told them, "He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying." (Matthew 28:6) Then the angel went on to say,
"Go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you." (Matthew 28:7)
Matthew agrees. In our gospel lesson this morning, after the women heard the angel, they ran to tell the others, and, on their way back, Jesus himself met them and said,
"Don't be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me." (Matthew 28:10)
So, which is it, Jerusalem or Galilee? The answer is: Both. Jesus first appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem … and in Galilee!
What we have here are two different traditions, just as we have two different creation stories in the Book of Genesis and two separate accounts of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke. And while, to our logical, systematic, Greek way of thinking, this may be troubling, in other cultures, particularly, the Middle East, this is perfectly normal.
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I first took a group of adults on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1996. On our first night there, we stayed in Tiberius. The next day, we drove to a hillside chapel overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and there we read the Beatitudes. We talked about how this might well have been the setting for the Sermon on the Mount where, among other things, Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer.
Well, later that week, we visited the Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem. The Church of the Pater Noster is located near a cave where tradition has it Jesus met with his disciples and – are you ready for this? – taught them the Lord's Prayer!
Up to that day, I'd never noticed that Matthew and Luke place the setting of the Lord's Prayer at opposite ends of the country. I asked my guide to explain how this could be. I'll never forget what he said. In his typically Palestinian manner, he said, "So? We commemorate the same event in Galilee and here, outside Bethany. There's no problem."
Indeed, he's right. The Bible is not a textbook, but a book of faith passed on to us, not that we might nail down all the facts and figures, but that we might know who Jesus is – the Son of God, the Promised Messiah, the Savior of the World – and that we might share the Good News of God's love through him.
It's in this spirit that I'd like for us to hear Matthew's account of the Easter story this morning and consider the implications of what it means for the disciples to experience the resurrection of Jesus in Galilee, as opposed to Jerusalem.
Just so we're clear, Galilee is an area in northern Palestine (present-day Israel), generally north and west of the Sea of Galilee. It's about ninety miles from Jerusalem. Some of the villages of Galilee include Nazareth, where Jesus grew up; Capernaum, where he lived during his ministry; and Cana, where he turned the water into wine. It was in Galilee that Jesus called his disciples, and it was in Galilee that he spent the bulk of his ministry. It should come as no surprise, when the women discovered the empty tomb, they were told to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, that Jesus would meet them there.
It sounds simple enough – "Go to Galilee" – yet, what are the implications? The most obvious is time. If the disciples were to meet Jesus in Galilee, they first had to get there, and if you've done much walking, you know it takes a while to get somewhere by foot. Most people walk about four miles per hour. But that's on level ground. It takes longer going over rough terrain. Plus, you have to allow time to stop and rest. If the disciples averaged fifteen miles a day, it would've taken them about a week to travel from Jerusalem to Galilee. And, while a week doesn't sound like a long time, when it comes to news of this magnitude – the resurrection of Jesus, for God's sake – it must've seemed forever.
A few years ago I got a call from a minister friend in Midland, Texas. I was living in Bryan at the time. He said a young woman from his church was a student at Texas A&M and had been missing for three days. Her father was in College Station putting together as many law enforcement officers and volunteers as he could to search for her. Since I was in the vicinity, he asked me to call on the family. I took off for the motel where they were staying. What I found was a virtual a command center set up in one of the meeting rooms. I introduced myself and was invited to speak to the group. I can tell you, it was a tense moment. I read a passage of scripture, offered words of assurance, and then prayed for God to lead us to the young woman. The volunteers scoured the countryside. Seconds ticked away like hours. Then, miracle of miracles, they found her in a small town in East Texas, safe and sound. The crisis was happily resolved. The waiting was over.
We were lucky. Some wait weeks and months to hear from their loved ones, and some never hear from them at all. Scripture reminds us that "those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles." (Isaiah 40:31) Even then, waiting is one of the most difficult things to do. It's hard to wait very long without losing hope.
It would've taken the disciples at least a few days to get to Galilee. But then, there's nothing in the gospels to indicate that Jesus was there when they arrived. Was he waiting for them when they got there? Or did he appear, perhaps, a few days, or a few weeks, or a few months later?
The truth is, we don't know. According to Luke, all the resurrection appearances happened quickly, beginning the first day of Easter and continuing for forty days, culminating with the Ascension. But, remember, this is Matthew's account, not Luke's. What, precisely, happened in Galilee?
Although we can't say for sure, we do have a shred of evidence in the closing chapter of John's gospel. While John records how Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room on Sunday evening, and again, a week later, where he appeared a second time for the benefit of Thomas; John also tells us of a later appearance on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
According to John, Peter announced, "I'm going fishing," to which the other disciples responded, "We are also coming with you." (John 21:3) Some scholars interpret this to mean Peter has decided to go back to his old way of life: "I'm going back to fishing," in other words, a decision that seems to resonate with the others.
Scholars point out that only seven disciples are listed here, and, of those, two are unnamed, suggesting that Judas was not the only one to fall away. The theory is that, although the disciples could've witnessed the resurrection earlier in Jerusalem, a significant period of time may have lapsed by now, to the point that Peter and the others had given up hope of ever seeing Jesus again; and, not knowing what else to do, decided to forsake their calling and go back to what they knew best.
In his book, The First Coming, Thomas Sheehan conjectures what might have happened. He writes,
"The scandal of those last days in Jerusalem was not that the prophet was crucified, but that the disciples lost faith in what he had proclaimed. Jesus' every word had been a promise of life, but they fled when threatened with death. He had trusted utterly in God; but they feared men. On the night before Passover, they abandoned the prophet to his enemies, just after sharing with him the cup of a fellowship that was supposed to be stronger than death."
"We may imagine the disciple Simon … a fisherman perhaps thirty years of age – now returning to Capernaum, his village on the Sea of Galilee. He thinks of the prophet, his friend … He recalls their last meal together … Simon remembers the darkness of Gethsemane that same night as Jesus went ahead into the grove to pray … Jesus had said, 'If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!' (Matthew 6:23) There in Capernaum Simon, the young fisherman, felt that inner darkness: It was like being storm-tossed on the night sea … You are lost and there is nothing to do (about it) …
"In those days after Jesus' death, Simon had an insight … a 'revelatory experience' …(which he) hastened to share with (the others). He gathered them together at his house … They spoke of their master, recalled his extraordinary message and prayed his eschatological words, 'Abba, thy kingdom come!' There in Capernaum … Simon and the others experienced Easter!" (pp. 103-105)
While the resurrection experiences in and around Jerusalem were immediate and concrete, Sheehan believes the resurrection experiences in Galilee may have been more gradual and subjective. He believes the disciples may have sensed Jesus' presence when they ate together, caught glimpses of his likeness in the faces of those they met and increasingly felt the power of his Spirit within them, to the end that they were able to tell others about the Kingdom of God and, effectively, carry on his mission to reconcile the world to God.
If he's right, the resurrection experiences in Galilee might serve as a model for how we can experience the resurrection of our Lord, now some 2,000 years after the fact.
Think about it. We hear the stories of how Jesus appeared to the women, then to the disciples, then to others. But how does that relate to us, really? In what ways might we experience the resurrection for ourselves, in this day and age?
If we're not careful, we might think of the resurrection of Jesus simply as something that happened long ago – a mere story we hear told every year on Easter Sunday morning.
But it's more than that. The resurrection of Jesus is a reality we can experience here and now, because – and listen to this carefully: In the eyes of faith, "Galilee" is not only a region of the Middle East, it's wherever you happened to be living in the name of Jesus.
Well, this is the Good News I hope you'll take home with you this morning: Like the disciples in Galilee so long ago, you, too, can meet Jesus in your home, in the marketplace, on the campus or on the street. By God's grace, you can experience the risen Christ within you, feel his presence, and know the power of his love, if you're willing. And, when this happens, you'll be able to sing with A. H. Ackley, who wrote:
"I serve a risen Savior, he's in the world today,
I know that he is living, whatever men may say;
I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer,
and just the time I need him, he's always near.
"He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!"
As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord this year, let's "go to Galilee," and trust that, in the course of our everyday lives, the risen Christ is among us inviting us to share in the peace and joy of the New Creation.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Copyright 2008, Philip W. McLarty. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.