Happy Easter!

When we get to the end of a book, the story is over, but not so with the gospel. When the end of the gospel is reached, a new story begins. Everything that has come before it is a preparation for this story that begins with Easter and will end at the end of human history.

Today we read the last verses of the Gospel of Matthew. We will note that it is precisely after these last verses that the history of the Church begins. Unlike Luke and John who narrate the manifestations of the Risen One in Jerusalem, Matthew presents the Master’smeeting with the disciples in Galilee.

Before the meeting with the disciples in Galilee, Matthew has narrated the manifestation of the Risen One to the women when Jesus goes to meet the women who had gone to the tomb and he says ‘jáirete’ – ‘rejoice’ and they come up, embrace his feet and adore him. Then Jesus says to them: “Do not be afraid; go announce to my brothers…”. –How beautiful is this gesture of Jesus… these disciples who had disappeared and they had abandoned him… and Jesus says ‘my brothers’… “… tell them to go to Galilee and they will see me there.”

The question immediately appears: why in Galilee where will they see him on the mountain? And what mountain is it?

Let’s listen:

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. The eleven disciples went to Galilee.

They are eleven; they should be twelve. It is a wounded group; Jude abandoned them because he thought that Jesus was dangerous for religion and for the life of his people. He had cultivated his own convictions—the ones he had been taught in catechesis— and his dreams, which must have been dreams of glory. He was wrong and ended up delivering Jesus to religious authorities. But neither were the other eleven models of fidelity.

Note that this is a group marked by weakness, by fears, by the inability to understand and follow the Master. This is the community to which the Risen One entrusts the mission of changing the world. A very fragile, weak group. From the beginning the Church is a community formed in that way, with people who are certainly in love with Jesus, but very weak. A community that runs away, denies him, believes, has doubts …

We realize that these “eleven” are us. But these eleven see the light of the Risen One. And here we are shown how our eyes must also be opened because if we do not see the Risen One we will not make the option for the new humanity that he proposes to us. Above all, where is the place where they make this experience of the encounter with the Risen One? It is in Galilee. The other evangelists say they went to Jerusalem… but here Matthew is not chronicling. He is showing how you come to see the Risen One.

The first thing is to go to Galilee. What does Galilee mean? It is the place where the disciples have first met Jesus and then they were with him for three years. Virtually all of Jesus’ public life developed around that lake, in Galilee. It is there that Jesus has shown the true face of God and the face of the successful man, of the son of God, of the beautiful person. Galilee makes reference to the experiences that the disciples have had.

If you don’t have this experience with Jesus, if the face of God and of the successful man is not contemplated, if this first step is not taken, the Risen One is never seen. There are always some who want proof that Jesus is risen and only then go to understand some things of the Gospel… NO. First of all one has to start in Galilee, with the knowledge of this Jesus that has been presented and made himself known for three years. It is not enough to go to Galilee, that is, to know this Jesus of Nazareth. It is necessary to ‘climb the mountain.’ It is there that the Risen One summons. On the plain you cannot ‘see’ it. You have to climb the mountain. Jesus does not say to climb a ‘mountain’, any one. NO. ‘To the mountain that he has indicated.’ And what is the mountain that he has indicated?

From the beginning of his gospel, the evangelist Matthew presents us this mountain where Jesus leads all those who want to know his proposal of a new man. It is the mountain of the beatitudes. After you have met Jesus and all that he has said and done, you must make the choice: climb that mountain, that is, accept his proposal to become a new person. I think many still want proof that Jesus is risen first, and only then climb the mountain of his beatitudes to accept his proposal. No way. It’s the opposite. First you have to accept his beatitudes, his life proposal, which is to love and give oneself completely, as he has done. Only later can one see that whoever accepts these beatitudes —that Jesus has incarnated ahead of us—can enter into his glory.

If you pretend to see him in glory, but you have not accepted his proposal, that is, you have not gone up the mountain, you can never see the Risen One. We can make a comparison with the relationship between lovers. It is not that the young woman must be absolutely certain that life with that young man will certainly be fabulous. NO. First of all, she should search rationally and only at the end she will see that the option has been good, after having done it. If you don’t go up the mountain, your eyes will remain closed with the gaze that you must have on the goods of this world and therefore you will cling to them, you will accumulate them… and you will never be able to see the glory of those who have detached themselves from them. You have to donate them first and only later will your eyes be opened.

And it is to these disciples that climbed the mountain —certainly with much effort—that “when they saw him, they fell down.” They ‘see’ him. The verb used in Greek is very important; It is not ‘blepo’ which is the material gaze, what everyone has. Here it is the verb ‘orao’. It means that only after climbing that mountain their eyes are opened and they see ‘beyond what is verifiable.’ They recognize that in Jesus is the truth about God and about man.

But then the gospel says that “some doubted.” What is it about? I think we are a little surprised by these doubts because we ask ourselves how could they doubt if they had the Risen One in front of them… they had him in front of their eyes. Let’s be careful because Matthew is not narrating a material fact.

The resurrection cannot be verified with the senses. The eyes that see the Risen Lord are the eyes of the believer, of those who went up the mountain. It is the vision of those who have already accepted the beatitudes of the Master. What do these doubts mean? It means: ‘Do I follow him or not?’

This must always be kept in mind in our faith. Jesus is not worried about our doubts. They are natural and go hand-in-hand with faith. Most worrisome are the ‘certainties’ that are born from the conviction of having the rationality, the logic, of the option for faith. NO.

We have reasonableness, not rationality. The resurrection of Christ or our faith cannot be ‘proved.’ And when one a person has these ‘certainties’ many times they try to impose on others the fear that, if one ask questions or doubt arises, there is fear that these ‘certainties’ will collapse. And from there to fanaticism there is a step. NO. We must be careful with these fanatical certainties, but not with doubts and questions.

I would also say that there are certain certainties of the one who proclaims his atheism and also these certainties worry because they allow to settle, to resign in indifference and say ‘I already have my convictions; what counts is what I see and what I verify and the rest does not interest me’… And this person does not allow questions or doubts that lead one to passionately seek a higher sense of life. These certainties—like the previous ones—also lead to aggressiveness and fanaticism. I would say: ‘Blessed doubts’ … the loyal, honest, sincere doubts. Doubts of the one who passionately searches for the truth and is not content with fragile explanations, with ready-made sentences… “everyone thinks the same”. NO. Honest doubts always lead to searching.

The believer must also know that the parasite of skepticism will always remain in him. But even so, the Risen One is present and loves us, just as we are. We cannot be otherwise… we are ‘people of little faith’… who trust Jesus, certainly, but only up to a certain point. In the doubts of these first disciples we find this weariness in believing… the weariness of a faith that requires a new life. We prostrate ourselves before the Lord, but with many hesitations.

Let us now listen to the great mission that the Risen One entrusts to these disciples. that are us… disciples of little faith:

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

The Risen One approaches these eleven because he wants to show them the true face of God. The God they had imagined was a distant, severe God, a God that instilled fear… NO. Jesus approaches because he wants to show them the true face of God. This approach is even scandalous because he questions all the convictions we have about him.

The Christian God is a God who loves to be with people and makes all barriers fall, the barriers that separated people from him. Let’s remember how the temple in Jerusalem was built. It consisted of a series of barriers that prevented people from seeing the face of God. And it was thought and believed that God lived in the temple in Jerusalem. Remember that on the esplanade of the temple everyone could enter. Then there was a barrier that blocked the pagans and only the Jews could enter. But a little further on there was another barrier that prevented the passage of women to the sanctuary. Then another barrier before the sanctuary and men could not enter there either, only the priests. And then another barrier, the temple veil also blocked the priests and only the high priest could enter once a year on the day of ‘kippur’. And he entered, but also with great fear because the mentality was always that of a distant and severe God.

At Easter all these barriers have disappeared and now we can contemplate the face of God. There is no longer a veil that prevents us from seeing him because he approaches each one of us, to this community of disciples. And this God becomes uncomfortable because he becomes poor, not rich as we have imagined… a God to whom people should always give something… NO. He is poor because he donates everything. And this shakes all our images of God because if He is poor, we too must become poor; if we retain something we are no longer children of this God. A God who is willing to forgive even the greatest sinner and willing to accept all our mediocrities. He loves us as we are.

What does Jesus say to these eleven? “I have been given full authority.” He is the son of man of whom the prophet Daniel speaks in chapter 7 when the Father (God) gives this ‘son of man’ a universal kingdom. What kind of authority, of power, has been given to Jesus? Not the one the Evil One wanted to give him, that is, the powers of this world… NO. The only power that God has is to give life, to make people live. Jesus has renounced all the powers of this world because they are the opposite of divine life that is love.

The God who has manifested himself in Jesus of Nazareth does not strike fear, does not reject anyone, does not humiliate people. He approaches the person only so that people may live, share his own life. And what does he do with this power? How does He use this power that has been given to him, the power to give life? He does this through these eleven and tells them what they are called to do. And the first thing he says is ‘go’ – ‘go to the whole world.’ It is a verb of movement, even of physical movement, they must move to go to announce to all the towns.

But it is not just a physical movement that they must do; they must come out of all their traditions, of all their convictions to go to meet the people to whom they must give that life that Jesus came to bring to the world. What should they do? These eleven (that is us) are entrusted with a triple mission. The first thing: “Make disciples of all peoples.” ‘Make disciples’… Who were the disciples in Jesus’ time? They were those who learned from the master. We always remain ‘disciples’, of the Latin ‘discere’ = to learn. We are never ‘teachers’.

We are called to invite all people that they unite with this one Master who is Christ. Disciples were not only going to learn a lesson from the master, they lived with the teacher. These eleven are sent to the world so that all people join the school of this Master and live by his side; that they make the experience of being with him. And they must go in search of everyone, to all nations.

That is to all pagan nations the ones that according to the mentality of the time were the most distant from God. And for the Hebrews this was unheard of. The expected messiah was to subdue all pagan nations, dominate them, subjugate them, exploit them. What happens is that Israel had not understood the meaning of their choice. It was not supposed to be a privilege to take advantage of the pagans. They had not been chosen to glory in their superiority but to serve.

No vocation is to be superior to others but always to be at the service of others. And Israel had been chosen to be of service of the pagan peoples. They were to bring the promised blessings to Abraham to all peoples. Let us remember what God had said to Abraham: “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

This is the great mission of Israel: to bring these blessings to all nations, to all peoples. This mission is carried out through the eleven that—I repeat—are us.

Second commission: “Baptizing”. It does not mean administering the sacrament of baptism. This is certainly important, but what does it mean to “baptize all peoples consecrating them to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit”? ‘Baptize’. The Greek term ‘baptizei’ means to immerse. In Greek, there are two verbs that mean ‘to immerse’. One is ‘bapto’ and the other ‘baptizo’. ‘Bapto’ means to immerse and then take it out, like when I wash a dish that I immerse it in the water and then take it out. The verb ‘baptizei’ means to immerse and leave inside. This is what we do when we prepare pickles… we ‘baptize’ them in the oil and vinegar and we leave them there. This is what we are invited to do; not just comply with a baptismal rite that is very important and is a sign of immersion in the life of the Trinity. He who is baptized in the Trinity, that is, engaged in this life who is love and only love, enters into the life of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then this immersion is celebrated with that sign, with that rite of baptism.

The third mission: “Teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded you.” Therefore, the mission is not to preach new doctrines, but to reveal the face of God and the face of man that we have seen in Jesus of Nazareth. So, it’s about teaching a practice. And what is there to practice? What he has taught, his command. And that is the commandment of love. How does one teach, train? By word: what Jesus has said is announced but this announcement must be made through the life of these envoys.

When a pagan meets a Christian the announcement is made through the way the person behaves. Let us remember what Peter says in his first letter, second chapter, when he says”Live a blameless life among the pagans; so when they accuse you wrongly of any wrong, they may see your good works, and give glory to God on the day he comes to them” (1 Pe 2:12). It is an honest life, irresistible beauty. If the Christian announces with his life, all who see him will say ‘this is an honest person,’ the beauty that shines in the face of Jesus of Nazareth shines in him.

We are called to make this announcement in this way, announcement of a whole new life, a new humanity. The evangelist Matthew also reminds us what Jesus said to his apostles: “You are the light of the world. May your light shine in front of people so that seeing your beautiful works (the translation often renders as ‘good’ works… NO) …beautiful works give glory to God”. These beautiful works announce the new man; that the new man has been born into the world.

And Jesus says to the disciples and he says to all of us: feel responsible for life, of the happiness and salvation of your brothers and sisters. And the Gospel of Matthew concludes with a wonderful phrase of the Risen One: “I will be with you always, until the end of the world.” Until the end of human history He will always be with us.

This is the God who is not far away. He is the God who is always by our side. Today is the Feast of the Ascension. We have in mind the image of ascension as presented in the Acts of the Apostles by Luke and also at the conclusion of the Gospel of Matthew. Both have used an understandable image in the Hellenistic world: God who lives in heaven and therefore, entering into the glory of God was presented with this image of ascending into heaven.

The evangelist Matthew presents the ascension of Jesus, that is, the entry of Jesus into glory, not as an exit to heaven but as a descent into this community of disciples to enter the world and present with them the new and beautiful face of God, the beautiful face of the successful person, of the one who is a child of God.

I wish you all a good Easter and a good week.