‘What is more important,’ asked Big Panda, ‘the journey or the destination?’ ‘The company,’ replied Tiny Dragon.
This is the message I delivered on 24 November 2025 to the staff of the Protestant hospital in Taxila, northern Pakistan, as part of my visits for the JC2033 initiative. In it, I encouraged caregivers to recognise and encounter the presence of the risen Christ in the sick people they accompany every day.
The year 2033 will mark the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For more than fifteen years, we have been travelling the world inviting Christians to prepare together for this anniversary. We have visited more than 70 countries, where ambassadors are raising awareness among churches about the importance of this date.
In Pakistan, too, we meet with all Christian communities—Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal, Salvation Army, and many others—because Jesus died and rose again for all humanity, not just for one particular Church.
This approach emphasises the importance of Christian unity, as we are called to bear witness to the good news together.
After nine years in this movement, I have learned to feel more deeply the presence of the risen Christ among us. This is perhaps the greatest grace I have received after all these years.
The resurrection of Jesus is not just an event of the past. It opens up a presence, a relationship, a today. Because he is alive, the risen Christ allows himself to be encountered, and this encounter transforms our lives. It is not reserved for a spiritual elite; it is accessible to every believer who opens their heart.
In his Word: the living voice of the Risen One
When we read the Gospel, we are not just reading memories or ancient stories. Because Jesus is alive, his Word is alive.
So, in the pages of the Gospel, he still speaks, as he spoke to the women and men of Galilee.
Every time we open Scripture, he comes to meet us: he calls and comforts, enlightens and corrects.
This is one of the most beautiful realities of faith: the Bible is not just a book, it is a place of encounter. The risen Christ draws near in the very words he inspired.
In the gathering of believers: a promised presence
Jesus promised: ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them’ (Mt 18:21).
When we pray together and worship, but also when we welcome one another in justice and truth, he is truly in our midst—not as a memory or an idea, but as a person who transforms and unites us.
This presence sets our hearts on fire, as it did for the two pilgrims on the road to Emmaus. It makes the Church not just a human organisation, but the living people of the Risen One, a people gathered together by him.
In our service and mission: a presence that sends
The risen Christ does not merely encourage us; he sends us forth.
Where we serve, where we give ourselves to others, we become collaborators in his mission.
When we care for and support others, we pass on something of his light and strength. And often it is in serving that we encounter him most deeply.
In every human being: the face of Christ in the least
Finally, Jesus waits for us in every person, especially in the most vulnerable. Those of you who work in a hospital know this passage from Matthew 25:
« I was sick and you visited me…
I was a stranger and you welcomed me…
I was hungry and you gave me food… »
This text is not simply a moral exhortation. It is a revelation: Christ waits for us in people in need.
Wherever there is someone who is sick or poor, abandoned or desperate, the Risen One knocks at our door. When we approach them, it is him we touch.
I can testify to this: every time I visit someone who is sick, frail or sad, I leave with more life and joy than I had when I arrived.
This joy does not come from me; it comes from encountering Christ living in that person. I am sure that you experience this in a much deeper way than I do!
Who are the ‘little ones’?
In the same passage, Jesus says: ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’ (Matthew 25:40). Who were his first ‘little brothers’? The inhabitants of Galilee and Judea, the men, women and children of his people: the Jewish people.
Jesus was born Jewish, lived as a Jew, and died as a Jew. It was among this people that he taught, healed and forgave. That is why all anti-Semitism is a contradiction, both ethical—because it betrays love of neighbour—and theological—because it attacks the people among whom Jesus lived and to whom he remains united.
Respecting the Jewish people means honouring an essential dimension of our faith.
It is to recognise that our Saviour showed solidarity with a specific people before opening his salvation to all humanity. In this parable, Jesus has all humanity before him (Matthew 25:32). But his Gospel is ‘the power of God for the Jew first, and also for the Greek’ (Romans 1:16).
A personal word
Before concluding, I would like to offer you a special word of encouragement. You are doing a magnificent service, a service that touches the heart of the Gospel. In this place where so much suffering occurs, where so much fragility is evident, you are witnesses to God’s compassion.
I want to thank you for all that you do: for the patience you offer and the humanity you show every day.
I know a little about your reality, because for sixteen years I was pastor of a community of deaconesses (Protestant sisters) in Switzerland. They founded a hospital nearly 180 years ago. Most of these women were nurses. They impressed me with their capacity to give and with the inner light that drove them to serve.
I discovered that the hospital is a holy place, not because it is perfect or peaceful, but because the risen Christ is present there in the faces of those you serve.
And he is also present in you: in your hands and in your presence with the patients. So thank you for allowing something of God’s love to shine through in your daily actions.
Thank you for upholding the dignity of every human being, even when all seems lost.
Thank you for continuing, even when fatigue weighs heavily on you, even when resources are lacking. Your mission is precious, and it has eternal value. May the risen Lord bless you abundantly and may his light guide you!
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