“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you ….”
We can picture the scene in Luke’s Gospel quite well. After walking with Jesus, hearing his message and witnessing his miracles, Jesus’ followers had watched him die and laid into a tomb. He was gone and they had watched him go.
Alex Gallimore
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Then something unexpected happened. A few brave women entered into the tomb and they became the first to experience the greatest mystery in human history. Jesus had been raised!
Excited, they rush back to the 11 disciples to tell them what had been revealed to them. While I’m sure they expected big, immediate changes, they were met with the opposite. The text says the disciples “did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” Oh, how often the mysteries of God are too often written of as nonsense.
Later that day two of the disciples decided to go on a journey to the nearby town of Emmaus. While they were walking, Jesus joins them and strikes up a conversation about recent events and their own religious history. Of course, these disciples have no idea who they are talking to and conclude this man had been living under a rock.
Finally, after these disciples invite Jesus to share a meal with them, “their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” Just as the women had done that morning, the two disciples immediately get up and return to Jerusalem to share what they had seen. While they were telling their story, Jesus appears to them once more but of course, they thought he was a ghost and not their resurrected companion. After touching his wounds and feeding him fish, they finally believe.
We know what happens next. The author of this Gospel writes another narrative which tells of the disciples, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit scattering throughout the region teaching the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, changing history forever. While this is the formula usually presented in most pulpits for the post-resurrection life of the early Church, we often miss a step along the way.
The disciples were most certainly excited. They were witnesses of things previously thought impossible. They couldn’t wait to tell someone! Fear had lifted and they were ready to get to work. Just as we expect Jesus to commission them for this work and send them off to all the nations, Luke’s Jesus throws them a change-up. Jesus tells them to “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
I know you are excited and I know you are ready to move. Why don’t you hang out here for a little while and wait first? We can almost hear the vacuum in the room as Jesus spoke these words.
Luke’s resurrection narrative has a wealth of meaning for 21st century churches seeking to live that resurrection life. I am certain that if we look closely at the text, we can see every church today. How many churches, when presented with an innovative and exhilarating idea, ministry or mission write these possibilities off as nonsense? Churches fear change and have, far too many times, walked suspiciously alongside of Jesus down untraveled paths failing to recognize the one leading them. Jesus has risen just has he has said and longs to take our churches places we have never dreamed. May we see him as we are brave enough to embark on those new journeys and listen to the nonsense of his unexpected messengers.
On the other end of the spectrum, many churches have become mindless “yes” churches rather than the spirit-filled churches of vision and mission Jesus promised. Such churches, full of passion and zeal, jump out in every direction without first considering the strategies and implications. These churches do a lot but never really accomplish anything because they have no clear identity due to never “waiting in the city” long enough to cultivate it. With the wealth of future possibilities before us today, it is more important than ever that churches find their own niche and understand clearly who they are as a congregation. The plan forward is made during those intentional moments waiting in the city.
So let’s wait in the city and hear everyone’s ideas. The resurrected life of Jesus is just as present today as it was on that first Easter morning, and churches in the 21st century must find their own unique place in that unfolding story. No, we cannot do everything, however, it is my belief that if we take time to discover who we are, we can fearlessly accept new ideas, create new ministries and embark on new missions which bear witness of the resurrection lives we have been given. This is what is means to be an Easter people!
Alex Gallimore ([email protected]) is associate pastor for youth at Piney Grove Baptist Church in Mount Airy, N.C., and is in his final year at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity.