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Monday, May 01, 2006
Easter Faith Meets Real Life
Psalm 4; Luke 24:36-49
We relive the first Easter one more way in this message about Jesus suddenly appearing in the upper room at the end of that long, long day. How many more shocking surprises can the disciples take? How would you have handled it all?
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"He showed them his hands and his feet."
I'm so glad Luke included Jesus' feet in the show-and-tell report. Otherwise, it might just be some kind of magic trick going on in that locked room on Easter Sunday night. "Nothing in my hand, nothing up my sleeve. Now you see it, now you don't."
The disciples had to be exhausted. They'd been holed up and freaked out all day long. One after another, their friends came bursting in with weird reports about Jesus being raised from the dead.
Soon after dawn, some women swore they'd seen an angel at the empty tomb... Then Peter and John, scratching their heads, said the tomb was definitely empty, so maybe the women weren't hysterical after all... Then, at the end of the day, two guys came pounding on the door, saying they'd spent time on the road with Jesus until he up and vanished right in front of them!
Even as they talked that one over, wham-o, there stood Jesus in their midst.
You can see why they thought he was a ghost. "No, no," he said. "See my hands and my feet, complete with nail holes. Ghosts don't come with those."
Then, driving home the nail of reality, he asked for something to eat. And ghosts don't do that, either.
I mean, the drill would be something like: Open mouth, insert fillet o' fish, and -- plop on the floor it falls!
But here he downs a slice of mackerel, licks his fingers, and turns "real life" all upside down and inside out.
For, if Jesus really did bounce back from death, then you have to re-examine everything you thought you knew about the way the world works!
If the resurrection happened, then death is no longer the last thing. Life trumps death. For ever. Amen.
And that's what St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. Because Christ is alive beyond death, complete with a flesh and bone body, then every body is no longer perishable, but imperishable; no longer mortal, but immortal; no longer physical, but now spiritual.
If that sounds something like stepping out of your skin into some ethereal realm of the spirit, listen to what Paul says next.
What happens in resurrection is like what a seed goes through between the day it's planted and harvest time. Down in the ground it goes, dead as a doornail; but inside its dry hard skin already lives what will be a bumper crop of new life.
One thing this all means, to me, is that every person we meet and every thing we do in this life is going to matter for all eternity.
That awesome thought could make your knees knock and your brain go numb, with an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Talk about performance anxiety!
But instead, I find in it the seed of serenity.
For one thing, I don't have to do anything perfectly, or all at once. Every modest effort is a small part of God's never-ending story. Important, vital, to be sure; but just one paragraph or chapter helping to move the plot forward.
So, for example, I can give you my full attention while we sit and talk a while, hearing you out carefully, answering you honestly. This one episode we share is a timely investment in our eternal well-being. Its outcome won't be the end of the world. But it can definitely help the world to end better.
I don't know. Maybe reaching out our hands to each other, sitting at a table together, to share a bit of fish and bread, would be just the way to help it all go down better. From this Easter story, it seems we'd be in the best of company!
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:45 PM
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