Thoughts for the Day

Then they (the two men) told what had happened on the road, and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

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 are still on Easter Day in our reading from Luke's Gospel. Yesterday we saw how the two men walking to Emmaus encountered Jesus, and how like Mary Magdalene they did not recognise him at first. However, when their eyes were opened they immediately travelled back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples the news that Jesus has risen from the dead. While the disciples are speaking about this the risen Christ appears among them. They see him, they hear his voice, but they don't recognise him, indeed they think they are seeing a ghost. The tomb is empty, but their minds are closed.

Understanding for them, begins not when they are told he is alive, after all Mary Magdalene and the other women who visited the tomb had told them of their experience but we learn from Luke's Gospel that 'the words seem to them an idle tale and they did not believe them' (Luke 24.11). Only when they touch Jesus' wounds and see him eat the broiled fish do they finally realise he is no spirit, but is flesh and blood. And only then do they accept that their Lord who was crucified, died, and was buried has risen from the tomb, and is present with them. Now their minds are open to understand the scriptures, and as with the two men earlier in the day on the road to Emmaus, Jesus teaches them about the Messiah, that he should suffer, die and rise again and that 'repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations'.

As with the disciples once we have decided to follow Christ, the command is the same, we have a sacred duty to tell others! Our world needs to see us witnessing to our faith in words and action!

Lord Jesus Christ,
we have known of You for years,
but our eyes have often been blinkered
and our understanding limited.
Help us to see You with fresh 'eyes of faith'
accepting that You call us to action,
and that this is no one-sided relationship.
Show us how to witness to You in our life -
in our speech, and in our action,
that we may become effective evangelists.
Amen.