How many times do I have to tell you?
by Faye Schmidt
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Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee (Luke 24:5b,6).
Read Luke 24:1–12
Each year, we hear the same readings from Scripture during the Lenten and Easter seasons of the church year. But have we really got the message?
The disciples had journeyed with Jesus on his way to the cross, and they heard him speak many times of what would befall him in Jerusalem and beyond. But we find in Scripture the many times when, on hearing these messages, they not only did not understand but also, on occasion, totally misunderstood.
Even in our reading today, the women ‘remembered his words’, and they told the others. But Peter ‘… went away, wondering to himself what had happened’. How many times did Peter have to hear what he was told?
Are we any different? On Good Friday, we confront our Saviour on the cross, fulfilling Scripture and dying for our sins. There is a body. There is drama. There are Jesus’ cries from the cross. There is something tangible. We can accept this reality.
When we visit the empty tomb this day, we are confronted with … nothing. Emptiness. Wonder. Like Peter and the other disciples, we are asked to believe that what Jesus predicted is true – that he has risen from the dead. He is alive!
St Paul calls the resurrection a ‘stumbling block’. This is where our faith, the gift of the Holy Spirit through God’s grace, comes to us as we accept and believe the witness of the women that it is true, Jesus has risen and, on his ascension, gone to prepare a place for us with him in eternity.
So, will you really hear what is being said when the Scripture is read today? Will you remember the many times when Jesus told us his purpose in coming to dwell among us? Will you remember?
And will you believe and rejoice?
Come, Holy Spirit, and open my heart and mind to the glory and wonder of your truth that Jesus died and then rose again for me, a sinner, so that I may dwell with him in glory through the wonder of your grace. Amen.
Faye Schmidt continues her diaconal calling through governance, having served on the Vic–Tas District Church Board, the General Church Board and currently as chair of her congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide. Having lived and worked in many locations within Australia and overseas, Faye has a heart for the stranger and the newcomer and for being open to new ideas, learning from others and responding to needs.
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