Thoughts for the Day

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We continue with the story of the two men who walked to Emmaus and met Jesus. After recognising him when he broke the bread at their meal, they decide to return immediately to Jerusalem to tell the disciples they have met the risen Lord. But even as they are telling them Jesus appears in the room.

Over the centuries many people have scoffed at the resurrection, so perhaps we should look first at Jesus' death to see if he did die. In Mark's Gospel a centurion tells Pilate that Jesus is dead (Mark 15.45). While in John's Gospel we learn that when the soldiers came to break the legs of the three men, to ensure their death because they don't want the bodies to be displayed during the Passover festival, they see Jesus has already died. To be doubly sure one soldier pierces his side with a sword (John 19.31-34).

So this is no apparition, though he does have a habit of appearing and disappearing in a slightly disconcerting way. To prove he is not some kind of spirit, Jesus eats some broiled fish and encourages the disciples to touch him. He calls the disciples, "witnesses", and urges them to start their work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, and from their to all the nations of the world.

Centuries later Martin Luther King was to say: "Faith is taking the first stair even when you don't see the whole staircase". The disciples have taken the first step by believing in the resurrection of Jesus.

Lord Jesus Christ,
all too often we demand scientific proof
for everything in our life,
but You call us to have faith in You.
May we, like the disciples,
learn to take one step at a time,
even when we don't see the whole staircase.
Amen.