Come and Go

 I am struck especially by the verbs “Come” and “Go” in this story. It is representative, I think, of the mystical rhythm of our faith in Jesus Christ.

I’ve always loved these lines from Matthew’s telling of the Easter story (chapter 20). It’s a kind of poem when reduced to a focus on the verbs:

 The Angel came and rolled back the stone “Come” the Angel said “and see where he lay.” Go tell the men that he is risen

He is going ahead of you. Jesus met them and they came to him

“Go to Galilee” Jesus said. There they’ll see me.

 We come to an encounter with Christ and he bids us go and tell; go and do.

 Imagine how these two women, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary”, must have felt in that at once terrifying and beautiful encounter in the garden on that first Easter morning. Wouldn't they want to have stayed there where he "walks with me and he talks with me and tells me I am his own?" Wouldn't you?

 This grand and wonderful story is, however, all about going and not staying. After hearing of the empty tomb, the beauty of the garden in that early morning, the lovely sounds of the birds in the trees, the warmth of the rising sun, we would all like to stay.

  But we must go.

 Go and tell others.

 Go to Galilee.

 When we join churches, we make for ourselves a place of delight and comfort and most of us would like to stay here. But the Gospel compels us to go.

 Go to the difficult places; the broken places, in Waukesha, in Milwaukee, and tell of the wonders in store even for the most broken in body, soul and spirit. There is good news for us all even in the darkest of times and places. We all need someone who has witnessed the resurrection to tell us that our broken hearts are not the end of the story but the beginning of newness of life in Christ.

 "Go to Galilee," Jesus says, "for there I have work for you to do."

 This garden has a lovely view, but Galilee has need of you.

 Come and Go. He’s going ahead of us and has promised to be with us even to the end of the age.

 So should we go and tell the Good News of Jesus and his love.