Each year we look forward to this greatest of all celebrations in the Christian calendar, to the joy and hope of Easter. We look forward to be able to say with conviction, “Christ is risen!” and to hear the exuberant response: “He is risen indeed!”

But as we go back to that first Easter described in our Gospel reading, we find something quite unusual. The Easter joy and gladness seems elusive and lost. The angel’s greeting to the women: “He is risen!” is met with fear; with trembling and bewilderment. What is worse, and what has bewildered Biblical scholars for 2000 years, is that it is exactly there where Mark ends his Gospel: “They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” Afraid. Thus ends the Gospel according to Mark.

I believe that Mark intentionally leaves us hanging and crying out, “It can’t just end like that!” And if St. Mark were here today, I’m sure he would respond to us, with a gleam in his eye, “You are right! It can’t just end like that. So, what are you going to do about it?” Are you going to walk away from this Easter celebration, silent, not telling anyone about what you have heard and seen? Are you going to walk out of here, afraid of what other might think about you, should you let them know of your hope in the resurrection of the dead?

Yes, there is more to the story than fear and silence. And that is where we come in. The Easter story is not just about the women at the tomb. It is also the story of our journey with Jesus. Our journey began at Jesus’ tomb. The Apostle Paul writes that we “were buried with Christ through Baptism into death in order that, just as He was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4-5). Our journey in Christ begins at His tomb. But how is it going to end? Is it going to end with silence and fear? That is the question Mark leaves us with at the end of his Gospel.

The angel tells the women to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee where they will find Him. Galilee: That is the place where the Gospel of Mark began. There Jesus gathered His disciples. There He first proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God. That is where the Gospel of Mark began. That is where the disciples are to go. It is in Galilee that Jesus commissions His disciples telling them, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19).

As we come to the end of the Gospel of Mark, we too are redirected to Galilee, back to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. But we are not just directed to the Galilee of Jesus 2000 years ago, but to our Galilee, to our city of Toronto; to our neighbourhoods, to our schools and workplaces, to our streets and homes. For there Jesus is going on ahead of us to meet us. He has work to do there and is waiting for us to catch up and join Him in our own “Galilee.”

This morning we rejoice to have Deborah join us as a fellow child of God and worker in His kingdom here in our “Galilee” of Toronto. Now, her parents were not born here. They came from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the first countries to receive the Gospel of Jesus nearly 2000 years ago. While they may have left their original “Galilee” they did not end their journey with Christ. They continue their journey here in Toronto where they share the Gospel with others whom God has brought here from their Ethiopian homeland.

And today we celebrate another milestone in their journey with Jesus. Today they have responded to God’s offer of the new birth into His family for their daughter. And they will continue to follow Christ in their calling as her parents, to raise her in the knowledge of the salvation which God has given her this day.

And how about you? Have you come to this Easter celebration looking for Jesus? Yes, we must come here first, for we are soiled and stained by sin. Here, in the Lord’s Supper we meet Christ crucified. Here we come to feed on His body, crucified for us and to drink His blood, shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Here we experience anew the cleansing first extended to us in our Baptism. Here we are assured of God’s ongoing forgiveness, acceptance and presence with us through the power of His Spirit.

As we receive Christ’s body and blood, the Easter miracle also happens to us! Even as we eat the body and blood of our crucified Lord, He is resurrected within us; He becomes alive in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. And with Christ living in us, we no longer remain at the empty tomb, but are called forth into the world as His disciples, proclaiming God’s peace and love to all mankind. We are silent no more. Fear has been banished by the living Christ.

I will now conclude our Easter message with a few words of an Easter message that St. John of Chrysostom gave. Now, you may wonder who this St. John of Chrysostom is. He lived about 1650 years ago and served as a priest and as an arch-bishop of the early church. His name Chrysostom means in Greek “the one with the golden mouth.” He was so-named because he was such an excellent preacher. And so let me share a few words from this mouth of gold, as he invites his hearers to come and celebrate the feast of Christ’s resurrection:

Come! Come, let us celebrate together!
Today is the feast of victory of our God!
Come! Come, let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
Rich and poor, young and old, good and bad.

Come, all, and feast royally,
for the table of the Lord is bountifully spread!
Let no one go hungry.
Partake, all, of the banquet of faith.
Enjoy the bounty of the Lord’s goodness!

Let no one grieve being poor,
for the universal reign has been revealed.
Let no one lament persistent failings,
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
for the death of our Saviour has set us free.
The Lord has destroyed death by enduring it.
The Lord vanquished hell when he descended into it.

The Lord put hell in turmoil even as it tasted of his flesh.
Hell grasped a corpse, and met God.
Hell seized earth, and encountered heaven.
Hell took what it saw, and was overcome by what it could not see.

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?

Christ is risen, and you are cast down!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life is set free!
Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead.
Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Christ be glory and power forever and ever. Amen!