Third Sunday after Easter – Year B
April 14, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
Luke 24:36b-48
24:36b While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
24:37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
24:38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
24:39 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."
24:40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
24:41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"
24:42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
24:43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
24:44 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."
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
24:46 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,
24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
24:48 You are witnesses of these things.
CONTEXT
Welcome to the third week of Easter, where the disciples meet the risen Christ with skepticism. Their hearts are filled with “joy” and their heads with “disbelief.” Seeing love’s confusing joy at work in the disciples, Jesus doesn’t launch into a complex explanation. Instead, he asks a simple question: “Have you anything here to eat?"
The mystery of the risen Christ gets worked out over a meal. And like all good meals, it includes a meaningful conversation among friends. This “opens their minds” to the mystery they are experiencing, and this is how they become reliable “witnesses.”
Our gospel text is a reminder that Resurrection is not a creed, doctrine or idea to be studied in a classroom. It is a mystery to be lived in real life, experienced in the body, in community, in the presence of the living God and each other. The theological shorthand for this is Eucharist or Communion. This is how our confused heads are reconciled with our joyful hearts and we become reliable witnesses.
Question
How do you feel about the idea of the Resurrection as a “mystery to be lived” more than an “idea to be studied?”
Prayer
As you contemplate the Christ Mystery, Inhale (I) and exhale (E) according to the prompts.
(I) Christ in me; (E) Me in Christ; (I) Christ in all; (E) All is well;
(I) Christ in me; (E) Me in Christ; (I) Christ in all; (E) All is one;
(I) Christ in me; (E) Me in Christ; (I) Christ in all; (E) All is Christ;
(I) All is Christ; (E) All is one; (I) All is well; (E) In Christ;
Word from Below Reflections
Peace Be With you
By Lina Thompson |
But if I’m honest, I am still wondering – what are the actual, tangible things that make for peace? This seems like the million dollar question for the Church to ponder … especially as ones who are proclaiming this peace.
Wounded Resurrection
By Lina Thompson |
Jesus shows his wounds. He doesn’t hide them. They were not miraculously healed nor did they disappear. He was not completely “made whole” again. He continues to bear the scars of his crucifixion.
Intimacy
By Scott Dewey |
The story of God in the world, because it is a love story, moves ever toward intimacy, toward oneness. As with all love stories, obstacles abound – comical and tragic misunderstandings, turnings away, outright betrayals, and faltering reaches toward the other.
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Weekly Homily by James Alison