In today's gospel of St. Luke we have another Resurrection story of Jesus. The disciples are trying to make sense of the story of the Risen Lord being told to them by the disciples that were on the road to Emmaus. This is hard news to believe. How can someone that they know to be dead be still alive?
Then while they were talking, there He is!! He appears and says, "Peace be with you!" This troubled and frightened them! Is this a ghost? He goes on to say to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." (Luke 24:38-39) He goes on to further prove that he's alive by eating a baked fish in their presence.
He goes on to remind them and to teach them that everything written in the Law of Moses and the prophets and psalms needed to be fulfilled. He needed to suffer and to rise on the third day. Further, repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, will be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47)
The whole life and ministry of Jesus was to bring people into relationship with God and to seek forgiveness of sins. In the second reading from the first letter of John, we hear, "Jesus is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)
These readings teach us to turn to Jesus, in all our shortcomings and sinfulness, and to seek forgiveness and develop a closer relationship with God, knowing that if we fall short, he will be there to forgive us of our sinfulness. God is a loving God, His arms always opened, inviting us to turn to Him in the spirit of love and forgiveness.
Let us always have Jesus in our minds and hearts, seek out his forgiveness, and forgive others as he has forgiven us.
Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
I personally prefer this account in Luke of Our Risen LORD's resurrection appearance to the apostles to the one in John, although both are very important for different reasons (the more theological one in John is important because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation & the account of how JESUS dealt with Thomas & blesses us who have not seen and yet believe). John's account is important theologically. Luke's account is so very human. I love the fact that JESUS responded to His apostles' fears and astonishment by inviting them to see and touch Him and THEN by asking them if they had anything to eat and eating a piece of fish in front of them. The apostles enjoyed many meals with JESUS, and eating is a very important part of the human experience. Although the LORD practiced what He preached and considered life & spiritual life more than food, I like to think that He liked to eat, and His asking for something to eat was not only proof that He came as a living human being and not a ghost, because ghosts don't eat, but proof that He was and is the same JESUS (despite the fact that His Risen Body was glorified and could pass through locked doors) that they had known and loved for the past three years. Once again the Risen LORD meets His disciples where they are--and in our lives He meets us where we are as well.
ReplyDeleteI also love the account of JESUS' encounter with the two disciples at Emmaus--one of whom was Cleophas and the second unnamed disciple who might have been Mary, the wife of Cleophas (since women were definitely not apostles but were definitely numbered among the disciples, and since it is likely that a man would be traveling out of town with his wife). Two very special liturgical songs that really put us in the scene of the experience of the apostles and disciples after the LORD's Crucifixion and then experiencing the reality of His Resurrection are THREE DAYS (Gustav Holt-sp?) and IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD, and there is another one set to a Celtic melody about the Road to Emmaus that we sang at Mass yesterday. I LOVE songs that are like Ignation contemplation and help us imagine the scene both with the imagination of sight and imagination of emotion.