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主称我们为弟兄

玛窦福音 28章8—15节

亲爱的弟兄姊妹，主内平安！

今天的福音里，有一个词很容易被我们忽略。妇女们离开坟墓，又害怕又非常喜乐，跑去报告门徒。忽然耶稣迎面而来，说“愿你们平安”，她们抱住他的脚朝拜。然后耶稣说了一句话：“不要害怕！你们去报告我的弟兄，叫他们到加里肋亚去，他们要在那里看见我。”

“我的弟兄。”

这三个字，是整段福音最令人感动的地方。

一、那些“弟兄”，是三天前逃跑的人

想一想，耶稣说的“弟兄”是谁。

三天前，他被带走的时候，所有门徒都逃散了。除了若望一个都不剩。伯多禄，那个信誓旦旦说“即使我该同你一起死，也绝不会不认你”的人，在使女面前三次发誓不认识耶稣。其他人呢？茹达斯更是用三十块钱出卖了他。

按照人的常理，复活的主应该说：“去告诉那些叛徒、逃兵、懦夫，我要跟他们算账。”或者至少说：“去告诉他们，需要先痛哭三天，先禁食祈祷，先做补赎，然后才能来见我。”

但耶稣没有。他说的是“我的弟兄”。

弟兄，不是一个职分。门徒可以因为背叛而被开除，但弟兄是一个血缘关系，无法取消。我们是在十字架上，在耶稣被刺开的肋膀当中所流出的血和水当中获得重生的，我们是耶稣最亲的兄弟。我们可以逃到加里肋亚去，可以回到我们原来的渔船上，可以三次说不认识他，但我们仍然是他的弟兄。我们的跌倒和失败，从来没有改变过他对我们的爱。

 二、“我的弟兄”里包含了什么

初期教会的一位教父默想这句话时指出：耶稣说“我的弟兄”，是为了让那些因背叛而羞愧到不敢抬头的人知道，他的爱比他们的罪更深。

耶稣没有说“去告诉那些门徒”，没有说“去告诉那些曾跟随我的人”，没有说“去告诉伯多禄和其他人”。他说的是“我的弟兄”。这个称呼本身，就是最美的消息。不附加任何条件，单单“弟兄”这两个字，已经说明了一切。

没有点名批评，没有当众羞辱，甚至不需要说“我原谅他们”。因为“我的弟兄”这四个字里，已经包含了所有的原谅，还多出了人永远猜不到的亲密。

我们也是如此。我们一直以为，必须先付出足够的代价，才能回到他面前。我们心里有一个被我们误会的主，我们心中的那个主可能会记账、会记仇、会在我们跌倒无数次之后终于厌烦地说：够了，我不再认你们了。那个被误会的主，是照着人的样子造出来的。但真正的主，在复活之后，称那些曾经在他最需要的时候离弃他的人，“我的弟兄。”

三、加里肋亚：回到跌倒的地方

注意耶稣要他们去哪里。“叫他们到加里肋亚去”。

加里肋亚是什么地方？不是圣城，不是圣殿，不是耶路撒冷。那是他们当初被召的地方——打渔、走路、吃饭、跌倒的地方。耶稣没有让他们上耶路撒冷来朝见他，他要回到他们跌倒的地方。

我们从哪里开始逃跑，主就在那里等我们重新开始。我们从哪里跌倒，他就在哪里等我们回头。我们不用爬到一座圣山才能见到他，我们只需要回到我们生活中最平凡的地方，回到我们跌倒的地方，他就会在那里。因为他已经先去了。

因为我们常常以为，要遇见复活的主，必须去一个特别神圣的地方，必须在一个特别虔诚的状态里。但耶稣说：去加里肋亚。去我们上班的地方，去我们吃饭的地方，去我们失败的地方，去我们背叛他的地方。我就在那里等我们，不是等我们道歉，是等我们回家。

 四、世上有另一种“报告”

福音的第二部分，给我们看了一个完全相反的图景。

妇女们跑去报告复活的好消息。与此同时，卫兵进了城，把所发生的事告诉了司祭长。司祭长和长老聚会商议之后，给了兵士许多钱，嘱咐他们说：“你们就说：我们睡觉的时候，他的门徒夜间来了，把他偷走了。”

这个谎言有一个致命的漏洞：如果兵士真的在睡觉，他们怎么知道是门徒偷的？但谎言不需要逻辑。它只需要一点钱，和一群愿意闭眼的人。

谎言总是比真相跑得快，因为它不需要信心，不需要悔改，不需要改变生命。但谎言不能给人平安。那些拿了钱的兵士，从此要背着一个谎言活着。而妇女们呢？她们又害怕又非常喜乐，跑去报告。她们的报告，让那些躲在屋子里不敢出门的人，重新有了家。

今天，这个世界也在报告两种消息。一种告诉我们：我们背叛过，我们不配，我们回不去了。另一种告诉我们：他称我们为弟兄，在加里肋亚，慈悲的主在等我们。

我们选择相信哪一个？

五、不要害怕，去报告我的弟兄

耶稣对妇女们说的第一句话是“愿你们平安”，第二句话是“不要害怕”。

她们确实害怕。空坟墓、天使、忽然出现的复活主——换成谁都会害怕。但耶稣没有说“你们不应该害怕”，他说“不要害怕”。意思是：我在这里，我的平安比我们的恐惧更大。

然后他差遣她们：“你们去报告我的弟兄。”

注意，复活后的第一个使命，不是交给那些从未跌倒的人，而是交给一群刚刚还在害怕的妇女。她们昨天还在坟墓前哭泣，今天就成了第一批报信的人。这告诉我们：我们不需要先变成一个完美的人，才能为主所用。我们只需要不躲藏，跑起来。

今天，复活的主仍然在对我们说同样的话：“不要害怕。我们去报告我的弟兄。”

谁是“我的弟兄”？就是那些觉得自己背叛了、逃跑了、不配了的人。也许就是我们自己。我们一直如同亚当一样，躲在“我们还不配”那棵树背后，以为必须先把自己洗干净才能回家。但回家，本身就是被接纳的开始。

他不称我们为门徒。门徒可以被开除。他称我们为弟兄。弟兄，是无法切断的血缘。因为他在他肋旁的血和水当中，真正重生了我们。我们逃到加里肋亚，他在那里等我们。我们三次不认他，他仍然称呼我们为弟兄。我们的失败，没有改变他对我们无条件的爱和接纳。

福音最后说，司祭长造的谣言“直到今天还在犹太人中间流传着”。谎言可以流传很久，但谎言不能给人生命。只有一件事能让人真正站起来：听见复活的主说“我的弟兄”，然后相信。

现在，让我们以一个简短的祈祷结束：

主耶稣，我们就是那逃散的弟兄。我们以为你不认我们了，但你在复活后并称呼我们为“弟兄”。求你赐我们勇气，从那害怕的树背后走出来，回到加里肋亚，回到你等我们的地方。你是慈悲的天主，你和圣父及圣神，永生永王。阿们。

He Calls Us Brothers

Dear brothers and sisters, peace in Christ.

In today’s Gospel, there is one word we can easily pass over. The women leave the tomb fearful yet full of joy, and run to tell the disciples. Suddenly Jesus meets them and says, “Peace be with you.” They take hold of his feet and worship him. Then Jesus says this: “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.”

My brothers.

These two words are the most moving part of the whole Gospel.

Let us think for a moment about who these brothers are.

Three days earlier, when Jesus was taken away, all the disciples ran. Only John remained. Peter, the one who had sworn, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you,” stood before a servant girl and three times swore that he did not know Jesus. And the others? Judas even sold him for thirty pieces of silver.

By human thinking, the risen Lord should have said, “Go and tell those traitors, those cowards, those deserters, that I am coming to settle accounts with them.” Or at least, “Go and tell them they must first weep for three days, fast and pray, and do penance before they can come and see me.”

But Jesus says none of this. He says, “my brothers.”

A disciple may lose his place through betrayal, but a brother is bound by blood. That bond cannot be undone. We were born anew through the blood and water that flowed from the side of Jesus when it was pierced on the cross. We are his own brothers. We may run back to Galilee. We may return to our old boats. We may say three times that we do not know him. Still, we are his brothers. Our falls and failures have never changed his love for us.

One of the early Fathers of the Church, reflecting on these words, said that when Jesus calls them “my brothers,” he is letting those who were too ashamed to lift up their heads know that his love runs deeper than their sin.

Jesus does not say, “Go and tell those disciples.” He does not say, “Go and tell those who once followed me.” He does not say, “Go and tell Peter and the others.” He says, “my brothers.” That name itself is the good news. No conditions are added. The word brothers says everything.

There is no public blame, no open shame, not even a formal word of pardon. He does not need to say, “I forgive them,” because the words my brothers already hold all forgiveness within them, and even more than that, a closeness the human heart would never dare imagine.

The same is true for us. We often think we must first pay a price before we can come back to him. We carry within us a false image of the Lord. In our minds, he keeps score, remembers every wound, and after we have fallen too many times, finally says with weariness, “Enough. I will not claim you anymore.” But that false lord is made in the image of man. The true Lord, after rising from the dead, calls those who left him at the hour he needed them most, “my brothers.”

Then notice where he tells them to go. “Tell them to go to Galilee.”

What is Galilee? It is not the holy city. It is not the Temple. It is not Jerusalem. It is the place where they were first called, the place where they fished, walked, ate, and stumbled. Jesus does not tell them to come up to Jerusalem to see him. He goes back to the place where they fell.

Where we began to run, there the Lord waits for us to begin again. Where we fell, there he waits for us to turn back. We do not need to climb some holy mountain in order to meet him. We only need to return to the ordinary places of our lives, to the very place where we fell, and he will be there, because he has gone there first.

We often think that to meet the risen Lord, we must go to some especially sacred place or reach some especially devout state of soul. But Jesus says, Go to Galilee. Go to the place where we work, the place where we eat, the place where we failed, the place where we betrayed him. There he waits for us, not first for an apology, but simply for our return home.

The second part of the Gospel shows us a completely different kind of message.

The women run to tell the good news of the Resurrection. At the same time, the guards go into the city and tell the chief priests what has happened. The priests and elders gather, make their plan, give the soldiers a large sum of money, and say, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night while we were asleep and stole him away.’”

This lie has a fatal flaw. If the soldiers were asleep, how could they know it was the disciples who took him? But lies do not need logic. They only need some money and people willing to shut their eyes.

A lie always runs faster than the truth, because it asks for no faith, no repentance, no change of life. But a lie can never give peace. Those soldiers, once they took the money, had to live under the weight of that lie. But the women, though fearful and full of joy, ran to tell the news. And their witness gave back a home to those who were hiding behind locked doors.

Even today, the world is still spreading two kinds of news. One tells us that we have betrayed him, that we are unworthy, that there is no way back. The other tells us that he calls us brothers, and that in Galilee the Lord of mercy is waiting for us.

Which one will we believe?

The first words Jesus says to the women are, “Peace be with you.” The second are, “Do not be afraid.”

And they really were afraid. The empty tomb, the angel, the sudden presence of the risen Lord, anyone would have been afraid. But Jesus does not say, “You should not be afraid.” He says, “Do not be afraid.” In other words, I am here. My peace is greater than your fear.

Then he sends them out. “Go and tell my brothers.”

Notice this well. The first mission after the Resurrection is not given to those who never stumbled. It is given to a group of women who were still trembling. Yesterday they were weeping at the tomb. Today they become the first messengers of the news. This tells us that we do not have to become perfect before the Lord can use us. We only have to stop hiding and begin to run.

Today, the risen Lord still says the same words to us. “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers.”

And who are these brothers? They are those who feel they have betrayed him, run away, and become unworthy. Perhaps they are no one else but us. Like Adam, we hide behind the tree of “I am not worthy yet,” thinking we must first wash ourselves clean before we can go home. But going home is already the beginning of being received.

He does not call us disciples. A disciple may be dismissed. He calls us brothers. A brother is bound by blood, and that bond cannot be cut. For through the blood and water from his side, he has truly given us new birth. We may run to Galilee, and there he waits for us. We may deny him three times, and still he calls us brothers. Our failure has not changed his unconditional love and welcome.

At the end of the Gospel, we are told that the story invented by the chief priests “is still told among the Jews to this day.” Lies may live a long time, but they cannot give life. Only one thing can truly raise a person up: to hear the risen Lord say, “my brothers,” and to believe it.

Now let us end with a short prayer.

Lord Jesus, we are those brothers who ran away. We thought you would no longer claim us, yet after rising from the dead you still called us brothers. Give us the courage to step out from behind the tree of fear, to return to Galilee, to return to the place where you are waiting for us. You are the God of mercy. With the Father and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

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