… for the week of April 20, 2025
Memory and Hope
Of all the Sundays for Jesus to be absent from the gospel story! How can he be missing on Easter? Go figure.
Since Jesus is nowhere to be found, the women who go to the tomb have no evidence of the resurrection but only the testimony of two mysterious figures: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (Luke 24:5-7).
And they remembered.
The women’s memory is more than simple recall. Their sudden recollection of Jesus’ prophecy implies a deeper level of comprehension. And with new insight into the bewildering events they have witnessed comes a stirring of hope for what is to come.
The Akan people of Ghana in West Africa give us the wisdom of sankofa, the principle that by reaching back, we may move forward. The sankofa proverb teaches, “It is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.” We face the future by grasping the past.
That is a good way to describe Christians’ confession of faith. We are all like the women at the tomb on Easter morning. We have no evidence of the resurrection, but only the testimony we have received from others, all the storytellers and saints throughout the generations. Recalling their witness, we proclaim the Easter promise again today. Memory and hope go hand in hand.
So remember, beloved. Remember: where even two or three of you are gathered, the living Christ will be there with you. Remember: blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Remember: if Christ has gone to prepare a place for you, he will come again and take you to himself, so that where he is, there you may be also.
Devotional message based on the readings for April 20, 2025, reprinted from sundaysandseasons.com.
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… Happy Easter