Sometimes we need to go back to move forward.
When Mary Magdalene and the other women arrived at Jesus’ empty tomb on resurrection morning, an angel gave them an unexpected message: “He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.” (Matthew 28:7)
At first glance, those instructions seem strange. After all, the resurrection happened in Jerusalem. Pentecost would happen in Jerusalem. The Church would be launched from Jerusalem. So why Galilee?
Because Galilee was where their story with Him began.
Galilee was where Jesus called His first disciples, where fishermen left their nets, where miracles unfolded, where faith awakened, and where ordinary people first encountered the extraordinary presence of God. Before Jesus launched His followers into their future, He called them back to where it all began.
That same pattern appears earlier in Scripture. When Elijah was exhausted and discouraged, God brought him back to Horeb—the mountain where Moses encountered the burning bush. Sometimes God calls us back—not because we have done something wrong or because He wants us to live in the past—but because there is something back there we need to recover for what is ahead.
Over time, even the most devout worshippers can lose their wonder. We can become busy, distracted, weary, or too comfortable. The danger is not always failure or compromise; sometimes it’s simply drift.
So, Jesus calls us back to Galilee. Back to first love. Back to dependence. Back to listening. Back to the places where His voice was clear, and His presence changed everything.
The good news is that God is not finished with us. He has more to do in us and more to do through us. Often the pathway into that future begins with a return to the places where we first encountered Him.
“He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.”
May we never stop meeting Him there.