The first apostle, the Apostle to the Apostles, was Mary Magdalene. That’s a surprise to some people, but it is an ancient tradition and today’s Easter Gospel closes with the reasons we make that claim. But while Mary was the first apostle, she was just the beginning of a worldwide movement that has, for almost twenty one centuries, spread out from that garden in Jerusalem to share the Good News of the Resurrection to all the world.

But that work is not done. To be honest, that work is never done. Each generation in their turn takes their part in the task, sharing the Gospel with the people of their day. And that’s true for us now. But I worry that the words we use and the message we share is essentially meaningless to people outside the faith today. We talk of Jesus being alive, we speak of an empty tomb and we exult that Death has lost its sting. But… Watch the news, or listen to people talk today and none of that seems to impact what they are experiencing.

Jesus sent the apostles into the world to proclaim *and* to teach. This Easter, I ask you to commit yourself to teaching others why the Gospel is good news just as much as we’ve been committed to proclaiming it. The world needs to hear the good news, but the world will also need to understand it before they can truly be transformed by it.