Easter 15 Community

The proclamation of resurrection has never been a solitary endeavor.

The women who went to the tomb of Jesus early that Sunday morning---how many women? Who exactly? The four gospels don't agree, but it was women who first saw the empty tomb---they all immediately went to the other disciples and told them what they had seen.

Today, I would like to highlight that this was because they had a community that had already formed around Jesus. These weren't solitary followers of Jesus, individuals who alone were taking on the disciplines or teachings of Jesus. Had an individual without that community had come upon the empty tomb, who would they have told? For all we know, the women of the Jesus community weren't the first there!

I'm indulging in some whimsy here, but I do want to highlight that Jesus had a community around him. After nearly every appearance of the resurrected Jesus to anyone, they had someone to go tell about it.

I'm not going to pretend that this is all celebration for me. I tend towards being a loner. Community is hard for me. Still, the church has served me well, has given me some of my closest friends, and has been the place I "belonged" when I felt like an outsider everywhere else.

This morning, after posting this blog, I will shower and get dressed to go join my own Jesus community, where we will be witnesses to one another to the Risen Lord. We'll each have our own spin on this. We'll each have our own story about what we've seen, what Jesus has said, what we should do about it afterward, but we'll also have each other.

This is hard and wonderful and worth celebrating.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Let's run and tell someone!