“Do not be afraid!”; “Do not be afraid!” What Joseph hears at the very beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the women hear at the very end. With these words, an encounter has begun for Joseph and the women. They understand that God is present in their challenges and that he opens a path for them. The Bible doesn’t claim that everything will always be fine, but it tries to tell us that we do not have to confront our difficulties alone.

In the Garden of Olives, it was Jesus who was confronted with anguish and hardship; the disciples left him all alone. While he prayed, they slept. When he was arrested, they fled. The women do not leave the man who has died on the cross. They come to see the tomb of someone for whom there is no hope left. The disciples distanced themselves from this difficulty and this hopelessness; the women come close to it. And they receive the message: Do not be afraid! He is risen!

In this story there are three encounters and three missions: the angel sends the women to the disciples; then Jesus sends the women “to his brothers”; and finally Jesus sends the disciples “to all nations.” No one discovers the message of the resurrection alone and no one can keep it for themselves. It is a message that is received in an encounter and that invites us to create new ones.

The resurrection does not meant there will no longer be difficulties in our lives or no more suffering in the world. But the first Christians, starting with the women and the disciples in our text, realize progressively that Jesus had faced his anguish and suffering alone so that we would never again be alone in our anguish and suffering. Little by little they understand that hope has entered into the despair and that Jesus’ death has become a source of life.

The first reaction of the women and of the disciples is a mixture of great joy and of fear, or even a mixture of adoration and of doubt. But Matthew doesn’t end his story by looking at the reaction of the disciples; he directs our attention to the last words of Jesus. The disciples who had left him alone are now sent to make disciples of all nations. Jesus wants his disciples to share with all nations the new life he came to give us, through baptism and teaching his commandments.

This mission and this life are carried by his presence. He received the power, and he will be present. In the middle of these difficulties and the distress of the world, the Reign of God has already begun. The resurrection is this: a definite beginning, and the dynamic of a presence until the end of the age. A presence both for days of joy and days of distress, a presence that is a source of hope.

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Journeying together

Luke 10:1-11

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

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Hoping for Everyone

1 Peter 3:18-22

Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (1 Peter 3:18–22)

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Opening a Path of Hope

Isaiah 61:1-3a

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. (Isaiah 61.1-3a)

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Walk humbly with your God

Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Sometimes it feels as if we live in a trembling world where every step is uncertain. The first chapter of the book of prophet Micah finds words for such experiences: it seems as if “valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.” In the sixth chapter of the book of Micah, the reaction to this shaking of the foundations is initially a lot of activity, the understandable attempt to find something to do, to cope. It almost sounds hectic, exaggerated. But then the text becomes calm. The narrative stops itself and takes us into this quiet space: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’”

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Choosing to Love

1 John 3:11-18

This is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that that one laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:11-18)

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Love Builds Up

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak,it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

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Discerning God’s Presence

1 Samuel 16:1,6-13

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (…) When Jesse and his sons arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. (1 Samuel 16:1,6-13)

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The Light of a New Creation

John 20:11-17

Mary of Magdala stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ’I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:11-17)

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The Baptism of Jesus

Mark 1:7-11

John the Baptist announced, “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”