The Easter Challenge

“He (the young man) said to them, ‘Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; He is not here. But go and tell…” (Mark 16)

In these few short sentences, Mark the Evangelist captures the essence of the Christian vocation. Do not be amazed: Why? Because from the beginning of His ministry, Jesus promised that He would be crucified and raised on the third day. He is not here: Look, see and believe everything He told you about Himself, His Father, and His salvific mission. But go and tell: Share the faith that we have received. Share a faith that is filled with conviction and joy.

Every day Christians are faced with the challenge of this Easter event. Are we going to be intimidated and silenced by the “influencers” of our culture who point out every sin that members of the Church have committed down through the centuries? Or are we going to invite others to share in the mystery of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that we experience as individuals and as a community? Are we prepared not to defend the indefensible scandals and abuses and rather speak from our own personal encounter with the Risen Lord.

Too often we allow the Church’s checkered past to shame us into silence about Jesus and his followers. Yet, if we truly believe that Jesus is the Risen Lord operating in this world and through His Church then our faith demands not silence but action. We must go and tell others about how and why Jesus has operated in my own life. We must share on a personal level the healing, the forgiving, and the restoring, that Jesus has done for me.

For example, we may lament that close family members have abandoned the Church, but have we shared why we continue to believe? Have we shared with them our certitude that Jesus has been there with us through all the worries, the anxieties and struggles of our lives? Have we shared our encounter with the Risen Lord on the day we got married, held our first born or made a good confession? Have we shared how we have come to know Him in the breaking of the Bread and that we only desire that they too come to know the joy that we know.

Do not be amazed – be joy-filled! Rejoice He is not here in the tomb! For He lives and desires us to live! Go and tell anybody and everybody that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is not here. He is every person we meet, every Eucharist we share and in the very marrow of our bones. Let’s not be amazed. Let’s get to work and proclaim by our daily lives the Good News, “He is not here!”

Have a Blessed Easter!