Biblical Reflection by Prof. Rev. Toshimasa Yamamoto
“ Who will roll away the stone for us? “
By Toshi Yamamoto
Mark 16:1-7
April 6, 2025
Ohayougozaimasu, Selamat Pagi and Good morning!
Every year as Easter approaches, I always remember an event that I will never forget. It was more than 20 years ago, during the Lent, Passion Week in the spring of 2001, when 4 Christian Diet members from South Korea came to Japan to protest the textbook issue. As some of you, older folks, remember, there was a big controversy about the textbook issues at that time in Japan. One of new history textbooks for the Junior high school, which cleared the official screening of the Education Ministry, described very little about Japan’s wrongdoing in the past. Just to give you a few examples, the historical fact of the "comfort women " ( who were sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the WWII ) was completely deleted from the textbooks and the " Nanjing Massacre " is described as only the " Nanjing Incident."
In a very dangerous move, this textbook is trying to close our eyes to past history and to beautify and glorify Japan's history of invading Asian countries. Many letters came to NCC Japan where I was working at that time, from Korea, China, and other Asian countries, protesting this new textbook.
So, in 2001, 4 Christian Diet members from South Korea, unable to stand still in the midst of the situation, came to Japan to voice their opinion and protest. One of them, Mr. Kim Young-Jin, after meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Diet Members' Building, walked in front of the Diet, together with me and Rev. Ryuichi Doi, who was a Christian minister and a member of the House of Representatives at the time. When we came to the main gate of the Diet building, Mr. Kim Young-jin, all of a sudden, stopped and sat down and started to pray. The prayer was so deep and it lasted for more than 30 minutes. After praying, Mr. Kim told us that he decided to hold a fasting sit-in in protest here in front of the Diet building. No one was expecting this, so everyone involved, including myself, was in a panic. Mr. Kim sat in the sun during the day with only water and slept in a sleeping bag at night. In Korea, it is customary to bring flowers to those who are fasting, and many people, including members of the Japanese Diet, brought flowers to present to Mr. Kim. Also, he often read the Bible while he was fasting. He said it was “his source of power to sustain him”. In the end, Mr. Kim fasted for 10 days over Easter. During this period, many citizens and other religious people like Buddhist monk and Shinto priest came and participated in the fasting.
Prayer meetings were held twice a day in front of the Diet building, once in the morning and once in the evening. In fact, before this fasting protest, the government, the media, and we all felt and believed that the textbook issue was over, as the official announcement of approval for this problematic text book had already been made. It was just like the disciples who, after Jesus' death on the cross, thought that they had already buried Jesus and that everything was over. Mr. Kim's fasting and sit-in protest strongly reminded us that “No, everything is not over yet. “It is difficult to express in words, but something deep inside of us was saying that there still is hope, and I received a liberating feeling of being set free from the crippling force of “giving up” that everything was over. It was as if the stone of despair that had blocked the body of Jesus was removed and a new hope came to life.
Although the textbook was approved by the Japanese government, fortunately, the textbook was adopted by only a very few schools, just a 0.03% of the schools in Japan, as a result of our advocacy and continuing protests of many of the citizens' movements and church people's efforts along with pressure from ecumenical organizations like WCC and CCA along with many civil groups in other Asian countries.
I would like to share another story of hope. The Austrian psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl wrote a book titled “Man’s Search For Meaning”. Viktor Frankl was sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis during World War II because he was a Jew, and his book was based on his experiences. In the book, he states that while people were dying one after another, unable to endure the “unbearable suffering” in the concentration camps, three things gave people strength and hope to live. The first one was prayer. By praying every day, they communicated with God, and through prayer, God gave them the strength and hope to live. The second was music. Music has a special power and comfort for the human heart and soul.
The third one was humor. Even in a seemingly hopeless situation, humor can help us put distance between ourselves and the situation. Humor allows us to look at a hopeless situation from a different perspective, and it gives us room in our hearts for hope and the strength to go on, according to Frankl.
The Gospel of Mark, which we read this morning, tells us that Mary Magdalene and two other women went to the tomb of Jesus. It was the women who witnessed Jesus' death on the cross as well as his resurrection.
The first Easter morning, when the women made their way to the tomb, they had just one question on their minds: “Who will roll away the stone for us?” For it was a very large stone. It would have taken about twenty men to roll the stone away, given what we know about tombs at that time. So these three women knew that they didn’t stand a chance. It was impossible for them to remove the stone away.
However, they went to the tomb anyway because they wanted to anoint their beloved Savior’s dead body with fragrant oil. It would be their last act of love toward the one who showed them such love. These three women were not worried about being arrested as followers of Jesus. They might have been wondering why Peter and the other disciples were not joining them. Maybe those male disciples were in deep despair and unable to move out of the upper room. If you put yourself into their shoes, is it possible for disciples and followers of Jesus to have hope in the midst of despair? In fact, this is a question that has confronted Christianity from the very beginning. The promised Messiah died on the cross. That was Christianity's first experience of despair. How can one still have hope after the death of the Savior? The large stone on Jesus' tomb seems to represent the despair of humankind at that time. But the event of Jesus' resurrection was truly an event that transcended our despair. It shows that even when human despaired, there still remained hope in God. Even when human's hope is at an end, there is God's stone of hope that removes the stone of despair. What the resurrection teaches us is that even when human hope has ended, we can still hold on to the hope of God.
Easter means many things to us as Christians. Easter clearly means that Christ is risen. It means that Jesus has defeated death. Easter also means that eternal life is real, that death does not end our life with God. And that the stone being rolled away from the tomb – a detail recorded in all 4 gospels – tells us something else about Easter that I think is quite significant. The stone being rolled away tells us that Easter is also about the ways in which God removes obstacles in our life, which is the ultimate source of our hope and also a source of our hope for YMCA .
This morning, I would like invite you to think about the large stones in your life as well as in your YMCA. Those obstacles that are keeping you from living the full abundant life with Christ and those big stones preventing YMCA from realizing our vision and mission here and now. Please think about those challenges that are trying to keep you in your tombs, so to speak. Those large stones that paralyze us with fear, that trap us, that try to stop us from living with God’s hope. And, then, I would like you to think about what Easter teaches us about how God plans to remove those stones.
Some Christians refer to themselves as “Easter People.” This is a reflection of their belief that they are people who live in resurrection faith, who never lose hope, and who live in hope. I believe that YMCA people are also Easter people.
On June 6, 1844, George Williams and ten Christian youth gathered in his room to establish the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). George Williams founded the YMCA to improve the situation of young people who, as a result of the Industrial Revolution in England, were exhausted in body ,mind, spirit and seemed to lose sight of the power of life and hope. He put reading the Bible together and praying together at the center of his activities. This seed of hope planted by George Williams has sprouted, borne fruit, and grown into a large tree in many parts of the world.
Our increasingly globalized world is divided into two groups: the few who are able to enjoy the benefits of globalization and the majority who are left behind in a society of inequality. The YMCA's mission and work is being together with the least of those who are left behind. Of course, it is not an easy task. But we can do it because we are Easter People and YMCA is always filled with “prayer,” “music,” and “humor”. And dancing together with YMCA song!!!
I do pray and hope that YMCA will continue to participate in God’s mission and witness that God removes large stones from people who are in despair and hopeless situation. May God bless you all, Amen
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Prof. Rev. Toshimasa Yamamoto is a Japanese Christian leader, educator, and peace advocate. He currently serves as the Treasurer of the Asia & Pacific Alliance of YMCAs, President of the YMCA of Japan and is also the Chairperson of the Board at the Asian Rural Institute. This Biblical reflection was presented at the
Executive Committee Meeting of the APAY held during April 3-7, 2025, Penang, Malaysia