“Tell My Brethren”

This is the word of the risen Jesus to "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary". His complete word to them is: “go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matthew 28:10). Two things strike me in this word. The first is the fragrance of the first love that it is exuding. Galilee is the region where Jesus set out to choose His disciples. Those who denied Him and fled in fear on the day of His crucifixion… He is calling all of them to “the renewal of love”. The second thing is that “tell My brethren” is a word that strongly indicates that the resurrection is essentially the slaying of the individualistic spirit in Man. The glorified Jesus is committing to His kenosis to raise us up to the fact that, with Him, we are “members of the household of God”. This has marked the Paschal hymns. You recall the hymn of the feast: "Let us say, O brethren, and let us forgive all things on the Resurrection". Jesus did everything for us. He did not return us to a paradise that we had lost, but to a God, a Father Who, through His Son, made us brethren and sons. In our victory over individualism, Pascha continues to be ours!