The English Sermon
Go quickly to Galilee!
Rev. Sakae Tomokawa at Tajiri Church on April 4th 2021
Every one of the Gospels, Matthew, Luke, and John except Mark tells of Jesus’s resurrection. All Christians believe Jesus has been raised from the dead. Jesus’s resurrection is the lifeline of our Christian belief. All early Christians firmly believed in this no matter what happened to them. We Christians believe it even now.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb to put ointments on Jesus’ body. But something strange happened. “And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it”.(Matthew 28; verse 2) I would like to carefully listen to what an angel said to them as follows. “ Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him“. (Verses 5,6)
The King James Version translates verse 7th like this. “And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.” The King James Version’ translation is very close to Greek text. There are two words “behold” and “lo” in verse 7th. We can find an angel of the Lord obviously emphasizes that Jesus goes to Galilee to meet his disciples.. The Gospel according to John tells disciples went to their home Galilee. I think disciples went to Galilee before the risen Jesus. But we all know all his disciples betrayed Jesus because they might be killed. They all felt regretful of how they abandoned Jesus. Once again we all know that despite of their fatal mistake, the risen Christ would forgive and proclaim His Gospel.
I have been translating “Living the Message” by E.H. Peterson for more than six years. He says that he has been doing pastoral work believing” He ( Jesus) is risen,…..he is going before you to 1020 Emmorton Road; there you will see him, as he told you”. As he tries to visit his church member in the hospital, he always believes the risen Christ will go before him and let the Lord tell him how to encourage him or her. I have been encouraged by Peterson’s meditation since my wife became mentally ill. I have been serving three tough positions, such as a pastor of Tome church and Tajiri church and the principal of Tome kindergarten for nine years. Without Peterson’s promise I could not have continued to do these jobs. As the risen Christ tells us, let us go quickly to Galilee! We will see Christ here even if we are in big trouble, pain or grief. For the risen Christ will embrace us as He has promised