This Easter Sunday, I walk and reflect in the spirit of the empty tomb—not as a monument to triumph, but as a living witness to the power of nonviolent love. As an Anabaptist Christian, shaped by a tradition of costly discipleship and radical peace, I hear the Risen Christ speaking again: “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). He does not come back with vengeance. He comes bearing wounds. He breathes peace on fearful disciples and sends them out into a world ruled by empire, militarism, and religious complicity. That same world surrounds me today—in Southeast Asia where I live and serve as a peacebuilder, and in Canada, where my family and spiritual community remain deeply rooted.
Economic Empire and Canada’s Crisis of Conscience
Jesus was crucified by an imperial system that exploited the poor and colluded with religious authorities. Today, I see that same machinery at work in the trade wars that destabilize the global South. Canada, caught in the crossfire of Trump’s revived economic aggression, has imposed counter-tariffs, but the effects trickle far beyond North American borders.
The Gospel teaches me to pay attention to the margins. Who is suffering? In the global coffee trade, in migrant labour, in our interconnected food systems—our economic choices can crucify the poor or uplift them.
As an Anabaptist, I believe the peace of Christ must confront economic injustice. It must challenge systems of extraction. It must imagine alternatives rooted in community, simplicity, and mutual aid.
Standing with the Crucified in Palestine
In Gaza, we are witnessing what international experts and the United Nations increasingly name as genocide. The cries of Palestinian families echo the passion of Jesus. Civilian homes bombed. Journalists killed. Hospitals reduced to rubble. And yet, Canada remains cautious in its language, hesitant in its actions, complicit in its arms trade.
As a peacebuilder, I cannot look away. As an Anabaptist, I must name this for what it is: settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, genocide — the violent logic of empire resisting the liberating truth of human dignity.
As a follower of the Risen One, I must stand with the crucified—not with Pilate.
Election Season and the Peace Witness in Canada
Canada faces a federal election on April 28. The political landscape is tense. Economic anxiety is high. Cultural divisions are deep. Pierre Poilievre’s populist rhetoric grows stronger. Mark Carney’s centrist promises sound measured but muted. Indigenous rights, ecological justice, and foreign policy integrity often fall to the margins.
But resurrection calls me to a different kind of politics—not of partisanship, but of prophetic imagination.
Do these platforms promote justice for the oppressed?
Do they tell the truth about our complicity in global suffering?
Do they seek a peace that goes beyond security—a peace rooted in restorative justice and solidarity?
As a disciple of Jesus in the Anabaptist tradition, I long for a politics shaped by the Sermon on the Mount—not the throne rooms of power.
Easter Hope as Resistance
Resurrection is not an escape. It is a confrontation. Jesus rises not to dominate but to renew. Not to overpower but to send us—wounded, hopeful, loving—into the world he died to redeem.
This Easter, I re-commit to Christ’s way of peace. In Southeast Asia. In Canada. In occupied lands and borderlands. In the silence of prayer and the noise of protest. In every act of hospitality, in every word of truth.
Because the tomb is empty—and the work of resurrection continues.
Prayer
Risen Jesus,
You come not with swords, but with scars.
You come not with vengeance, but with salaam.
Breathe your peace into my lungs again.
Let it rise in my voice, my steps, my choices.
In Southeast Asia where I walk,
In Canada where I vote and pray,
In Palestine where you are still being crucified—
Make me an instrument of your resurrection.
Amen.
