Bartholomew was with the rest of the disciples in that dark
upper room in Jerusalem. The air was thick with more than dust; it was heavy
with fear and depression. It was three days, now, since Jesus had died; three
days since any of them had been outside. They had all wanted to go to Calvary,
not to hoot and howl like the mob, but just so Jesus might catch their eye and
feel a little less alone, but they feared they, too, would be caught and killed.
That fear added to their depression, Bartholomew thought, and he instinctively
looked in the corner where Peter huddled. He noticed that someone had put a
blanket around the figure, so full of shame from his denial of Jesus that he
was barely conscious.
Suddenly, there was the coded wrap on the door that signaled
a friend. The door was unlatched and three women burst in with the daylight.
Excited and out of breath, they stammered out the news – the tomb was empty.
Jesus was alive again and he would meet the disciples in Galilee! The disciples
were stunned, “What?”, “How can that be?”, and “But he was dead!”. So quickly
doubt began to snatch the hope the women had brought. What if it’s just human
hysteria? What if they were just trying to cheer us up? What if it’s a cruel
joke?
“But, what if it’s true?”, said Bartholomew, “What if Jesus
lives again? Why, then, it’s off to Galilee for me! Soldiers or not, doubts and
all, it’s off to Galilee for me!”
“And it’s a new chance for me”, came the words from the
blanketed form in the corner, whose eyes now burned bright and clear. Peter's voice was alive and hopeful, “To
Galilee.”
So the story does not end with Jesus crushed beneath the
combined weight of personal pride, religious arrogance, and political paranoia –
beneath all human sin. It takes all these and fashions a new beginning in which
the grace of God lives anew, forgiveness lives anew, righteousness lives anew –
in which Jesus lives anew. Living anew, he comes to meet us. He comes for us.
So hang the doubts, hang the fears, hand the depression. Pack them and bring
them along to our Galilee, for when Christ comes to us, alive and kicking, he
adds something new: faith, hope, and love. The grace of God is part of our life
and it’s a new chance for all of us. Easter Blessings to all.
