resurrection appearance is discounted. Even today we find that woman are
discounted as legal witnesses in many countries. Then he appeared to
Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus and because they go back to
Jerusalem to find the disciples they were talking, gossiping about Cleopas
and his friends story on the road to Emmaus. And Jesus appeared, through
locked doors! Scary stuff! And he said “Peace be upon you-Sallamm
Malaichim, Sasidakahl, Shalom” Peace be upon you and your household.
that Shalom that encompasses all we could ever need, the peace that
passes all understanding.
They thought that he was a ghost! Soi would I have done! And being forever
perceptive he asks them why they are troubled! And some of them obviously
thought-this cant be ~jesus. So he asked them to touch him. You cant touch a
ghost! Look at my hands and my feet. It is me myself! Touch me and see; a
ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And some of
them still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, So we have a
ghost with a gaping hole that you can feel. Or maybe it's just a story, a
comfortable way of resolving grief, collective transference. So to answer their
doubts he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a
piece of broiled fish(France), and he took it and ate it in their presence.
And to the unbelieving shocked group of disciples he again as on the road to
Emmaus showed them how he had fulfilled the law and the prophets.
He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures(me after
hearing Cicely Saunders-needed the Holy Spirit). He told them, “This is what
is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all
nations(ethnos), beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses (marturio) of
these things.
Have you ever doubted the existence of God? Many of at times have
doubted. But our experience of God turns doubt into faith. God comes to us
at strange times and jolts us from doubt to faith. We will not have the
experience that the disciples had of feeling the holes where Jesus was
pierced but something else cuts through and we believe.
There are a number of resurrection stories. Jesus convinced the disciples he
was alive, through convincing proofs, for 40 days after the resurrection.
In all of them Jesus appears. In most of them he is initially not
recognized(recognizing Jesus in others-Michael Taylor in the poor). In all of
them he gives his peace and in all of them (except the garden tomb) the
setting is in the context of eating. There are eucharistic overtones. There may
be a profound truth here that Jesus is always potentially to be found as we eat
together.
Gods Spirit is with us everywhere and in everything we go through on our
journey of life. Be prepared for God to bump into the middle of the chaos of
life.
Ultimately It is only God who can convince us that God is with us even though we do cannot feel the marks of the crucified body of Jesus, although
maybe we have our own scars, our own crucifixions. Unlike ourselves God
never loses faith in us, never doubts us.
