LIVING FAITH

IT struck me on Easter Sunday that Jesus did not appear in Mark’s Gospel account of the resurrection (Mk 16:18). The mysterious angel even says: ‘He is not here’.

Maybe that is a question we often ask – ‘where is God?’. The angel at the empty tomb tells the two Marys and Salome that Jesus has gone ahead to Galilee. He had gone to where the work was, to the place he had preached, healed and forgiven.

They wanted Him at that tomb, at the moment they arrived. Maybe it is natural that we want to tie Him down to being with us – religious people (like me) are great at trying to manage God. But he can’t be managed, limited, constrained.

If they want to find him, they/we have to go to Galilee, Gaza, Glascote – anywhere that would draw Jesus. For ‘anywhere’, read ‘everywhere’ that has people who are needy.

He promised that this would be the case, that we would meet him in the poor, the sick, the prisoner. Sometimes that person in need is us, in moments of loss or loneliness, anxiety, illness or sin.

It is the best time or place to meet Him because it is often at that moment that we open our hearts and souls to Him. The encounter can come through another person or in a quiet moment of reflection/prayer.

When one person helps another, the one helping often feels blessed too, like they have received more from helping than they have given.

That, for me, is also an encounter with the Risen Lord. It brings with it hope and a deep joy.

For me, the best way to know that He is risen is because we have met Him in moments of giving and receiving. Alleluia.

Michael White