[AI translation] The historical context in which this Easter message is set is surely familiar to us all. On the morning after Jesus' burial, some women made a pilgrimage to the tomb to perform the final rite, the embalming of Jesus' body, which had been omitted because of the feast day. As they drew near, they were astonished to see that the stone that covered the tomb had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. Suddenly they heard the voice of some mysterious, incomprehensible being. He is not here, for he has risen as he said he would. Come and see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead. And behold, He is going before you into Galilee, and there you will find Him."I want to highlight this one sentence from this first Easter message. This is what struck me, "He is going before you". It is as if our whole faith in Jesus is somehow reoriented by this phrase. As if to remind us that we are never looking for Jesus behind us, but always ahead of us. Because Jesus is never behind us, but always ahead of us. In other words, whoever truly seeks Jesus - wants to meet him - should never look backwards, in the past, but always in the present and in the future. I would like to emphasise this particularly now because I have often found that a very large proportion of Christian churchgoers believe in Jesus as a "historical faith". They believe that once upon a time there lived a wonderful divinely powerful person, Jesus of Nazareth. It would be hard to deny this fact. His unparalleled spiritual legacy remains today an inexhaustible treasure trove for every soul seeking the truth. So they believe that all that is recorded of him really happened, that he healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, calmed storms, preached love, martyred, that he was someone whose memory is worthy of grace to this day. Whose teachings are undoubtedly worth proclaiming. His life is an example worth following. There are always good things to say about him.
There lives a faith like the faith of those pious women who went on pilgrimage to the tomb on Easter morning. Their faith was characterised precisely by looking backwards, backwards to the past, in search of Jesus. Among the dead. From a secular point of view, it must be very touching, very honourable, that there are still people in the 20th century who keep the memory of someone who died so long ago with such reverence. That there are people who still mourn his death on the occasion of a Good Friday service, weep over his death, mention his dear name with prayerful reverence, and are still prepared to make sacrifices of money, time and effort to uphold his memory. It is truly touching! Just as it was very touching to see the small group of people there on Easter morning, equipped with expensive grass tools, getting up at the crack of dawn and approaching that tomb with fervent zeal.
This is the historical faith that always looks for Jesus in the past, in the distant past, among the dead. Faith in Jesus, but in a Jesus who is already dead, who has been buried by time, over whom Jerusalem, the world, has already made its day. To them it is and will remain a precious memory, but future generations may forget even that. Somehow this is how the world sees Christians today. Is it not because they are like that? An army of believers in Jesus of long ago? Is not the listless inertia that often characterises our whole ecclesiasticism, our whole life of faith, connected with the fact that we have only such a historical faith? That we are seeking and surrounding ourselves with our faith with a Jesus who has long been left behind by the modern world, by the present age? Does our march to church not resemble the pious, despondent pilgrimage with which these women made their way to the cemetery? Does not all the reverence for Jesus resemble the funeral rite that those pious women wanted to perform by embalming the body of Jesus? Is not the whole Easter people of today a little like that small group of devout pilgrims who approached Jesus with devout feelings, but still disappointed?
He rose from the dead long ago, but they still don't believe in him! What is lacking is not fervour, sacrifice, but Easter faith, the triumph and joy of the faith of the resurrection! Somehow our whole way of life seems to show that we do not really believe in the reality of the risen, living Jesus. We celebrate Easter, but without Easter faith. So let us for once truly hear with our hearts what this message proclaims, "Jesus is Risen! Risen!" Let us not want to think like those who count Jesus among the great dead of humanity.
Jesus is not one of those who gave humanity a great religion! There have been many on this earth: poets, great minds, great generals, great rulers, whose memory is still venerated by mankind to this day. There have been geniuses who have always sought to give people new faith and hope. The influence of many great men is still felt today, their spiritual legacy still lives on, but all that remains of them is a handful of ashes in a graveyard. Let us not think of Jesus in this way! He is not one of the great dead of humanity! To speak of him only in the past tense is a complete misunderstanding of his person! Not only was there once upon a time, but there is! He not only lived, but lives! Now, and ever living! He is risen!
Let us believe at last that he is risen! Let us not live, let us not behave as if all the Christianity that we represent in this earthly world is just the spiritual legacy of someone who died long ago and should be held on to and passed on to posterity until it is forgotten! But let us believe that Christianity is the ever-fresh emanation of a living Someone who, from a higher life-form, reigns here on earth today as he once did long ago. True Christianity is a manifestation of the animating forces that flow unceasingly from the living Jesus. Fear not! The cause of Christ will live on this earth as long as Jesus lives, and can only pass away once Jesus is gone. Christianity is not a dead cult! At its centre is not a fancy tomb somewhere, but at its centre is the risen, living Jesus himself, with his two arms stretched out wide to the people, saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest". He is never behind you, in the past, but always in front of you! Do not seek Him backwards, but always looking forward!
"Why do you seek the living among the dead?" is the angel's message to the women who seek Jesus in the tomb. The greatest of the dead are all resting in some tomb or other. Their spirits may live on and be active, but their arms can no longer help a falling person, their hands cannot wipe away a tear or dress a wound, their ears are forever closed to sighs and supplications. Their voices are muffled, too, unable to comfort or encourage. Their hearts cannot beat with anyone, cannot feel compassion. Among the sealed tombs you will not find the tomb of Jesus - it is empty. It is empty forever! His strength has not passed away, His arm can still help anyone, His hand is still outstretched, His heart still beats with all those who truly seek Him. Jesus is not behind us, somewhere in the distant past, but always ahead! Let us be aware of this! Even now, at this very moment, He is here in front of us, right in front of the souls of all of us. I spoke to Him today!
Brothers and sisters! I believe, I feel and I know that He is here, and even if sometimes I find it difficult to believe, even if sometimes I do not feel it at all, I know that He is here and He is before me. He is always before me. That is why all the events that happened behind us, in the distant past, with Him and with Him, are also all before us, here, now. Thus every word that was recorded two thousand years ago can be a living Word today. If it is only from the past that you hear "your sins have been forgiven", it is an empty human utterance; but if you hear it from the front, it is that someone has actually released you from the bonds of your sins and you are free! Unless we hear from the past, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the world" - that is also an empty word. But if we hear it from the front, we find at once that no path of life is so difficult, no sacrifice so heavy, no burden so great, no depth so deep, no temptation so insurmountable, that you will not take it gladly, confidently, for before you stands He to Whom all power in heaven and earth is given.
I have already realized why we cannot truly believe in the reality of the risen, living Jesus. Often, perhaps, it is because our faith is stuck in the incomprehensibility of the miracle of the resurrection. Well, let us remember: the resurrection as a historical fact is behind us, in the distant past, but the risen, living Jesus is always before us! So let us never believe in the resurrection as a miracle, but always in the Risen Christ as a living reality! The Resurrection cannot be understood, but the Risen One can be encountered. The Resurrection remains an eternal mystery, the Risen One is revelation itself. The Resurrection cannot be spoken to, it is mute, but the Risen One is a conversational partner. No one was present at the resurrection, but the Risen One has been present in the lives of many people ever since, and still is. The Resurrection casts doubt, the Risen One gives certainty. The question of the resurrection can only be answered by the Risen One, once he has spoken to us. Well, this Risen One "goes before you", as the Gospel says. Never in the past, as a dead man, but always before us, as a living one.
That is why Jesus remains always, in every age, modern, never past, never gone, but always someone to follow, because he goes before us. What He said long ago about loving one's enemies, about purity, about striving for peace, about forgiveness, about seeing the brother in the other person and relating to him in this way, is still the most modern today. And what He did in living and sacrificing His life and strength all for the sake of the other man is, if possible, even more relevant today than ever before. If we are to live at all, that is the only way to live. Jesus has always gone before and will always go before humanity! It is a well-known fact that the truly great artists are ahead of their time. Beethoven, Ady, Bartók were so far ahead of their time that their contemporaries hardly understood them, and most of them did not even understand them at the time. But age, even if slowly, has been following them, slowly catching up with them, and even surpassing them. Then comes a big, new, modern genre, and the old one becomes a classic or is completely outdated. It is forgotten. Jesus will never be surpassed or forgotten by any age, because He always "goes before us"! Even when everything: music, science, art, will be behind us, and therefore will be in death - He will still "go before us", and where He goes before us: protection and love will surround those who come after Him!
Never look back, but always forward, to Jesus who goes before you! It is He who calls you back, "Come and follow me!" "Behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, and there you will see Him", says the Easter message. Galilee - this was the disciples' field of work. It was the place where they shed their sweat and toil, where they went about their daily business. "Go... there you will see Him." This is what the message of the Word says: Go out into the everyday, into the daily work, into your family circle, into the world, into the midst of people! There you will meet Him, there you will see Him and there you will experience that He lives! If you believe, you will see the living Jesus sitting with you at the dinner table, there beside you helping you in your work, lifting you up in desperate situations, before you in the cross, actually standing beside you in your desolation, giving you victory in your temptation, comforting you in your sorrow, and lifting you to Himself in your death. "There you will see Him" - if you follow the Jesus who goes before you in this way, you will be filled with the Spirit, that you are really in the living Jesus!
In conclusion, we may know that the first Christians celebrated Easter every day. Let not our Easter celebration be lost today! Tomorrow too, the day after tomorrow - let every day be an Easter celebration! Not just celebrated in church! It pleases God if we live the reality of the living Jesus, the reality of his love, out there, among people, in the world, by our actions. In other words, if we live with true Easter faith, we turn not backwards but to the Jesus who is before us. Our worship is worth nothing today if we will not proclaim the reality of the living Christ with our lives tomorrow.
Let us remember only this one thing: "Jesus is risen, he is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see him."'
Amen
Date: 14 April 1968 Easter
Lesson
Lk 24,1-10