Easter Sunday Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 Col 3:1-4 OR 1 Cor 5:6b-8 Jn 20:1-9

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

The disciple whom Jesus loved was excited to hear the news from Mary. He outran Peter to the tomb, but he was not the first one in. He hesitated at the entrance… why? Was he thinking that it was all too good to be true? Or maybe he was afraid of what he might find, that it might all be a mistake. After all, we know from the time we are children that death is the final word, the ultimate authority. How could anyone have overcome that? Or if Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, what would that mean for the disciple, how would his life change? Maybe that was the scary part.

A month ago, I spent a week over my spring break on a service trip at a homeless shelter in Albuquerque. I had been on service immersion trips before, so I was incredibly excited. But even so, as the trip approached I had the slightest moment of hesitation. Is not homelessness equivalent to hopelessness, despair, and pain? Are not the people there empty and broken? Maybe I was afraid, but of what? My own safety? I would encounter murderers and drug dealers, but no, it wasn’t for my physical safety. Maybe, like the disciple whom Jesus loved, I was afraid of what I might find. What if I found hope, happiness, and love in those people who are supposed to be second class? Could that even be true? And if it is, what does that mean for my own life?

It can be intimidating to walk in and encounter the reality of the risen Christ in an empty tomb, or a homeless shelter. If nothing else, it goes against everything we have been taught. But the fact is that Jesus has risen and walks in our midst, and fear, anxiety, jealousy, and material desire will only make us cling to the safety of the things we know. In order to live, to truly live, we have to be willing to encounter the living, loving God in every place and be prepared to be surprised by what God leads to.