Life after Easter can seem anticlimactic.  We have suffered like Jesus during Lent.  We have remembered him while partaking of Communion on Maundy Thursday.  We have reflected on the meaning of his death on Good Friday and waited in anticipation for Sunday morning.

Well, Sunday has come and gone.  The resurrection is past; the day is behind us.  The tomb is empty.

Jesus did what he said he would do.  End of story.  Now, what?  What’s next for his disciples?

Good question.  After the resurrection, Jesus didn’t leave them.  But, he kept on appearing.  According to the gospel writers, he kept showing up.  Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles, “After his suffering, he presented himself alive by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (1.3, NRSV).  It wasn’t over then and it’s not over now.

The work of the resurrection was finished but there was still work to be done.  As his disciples, we have a hand in it and likewise, are commissioned by Jesus: “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 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28.19-20, NRSV).  He is risen!  Now, tell someone about it.