As we are gathered, Jesus appears!
3rd Sunday of Easter - Preadcher: Rev Joabe Calvacanti
‘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.’
We are still enjoying, still savouring the joy of Easter. Aren’t we? We are still celebrating the greatest feast in the Christian Calendar, Easter! So we are still experiencing the resurrection event. And the gospel reading is within that context of the resurrection. If we think about that, up to that point, the disciples are still waiting, some had seen the Lord, well, a handful of them, but the majority of the disciples are still in state of suspended belief, waiting to see what would happen. And they are not quite sure about what had really happened. One thing of which they were certain was that Jesus had died. They had seen him dead, and they had put his lifeless body into the tomb. They were very sure of that. Jesus was as dead as a dead person can be.
If we follow the account of the Gospel of Luke, the sequence of events on Easter Sunday are: the women go to the sepulchre but what they find is an empty tomb, and near it they see two men in dazzling clothes – later on they will refer to them as angels - who tell them that Jesus is not there as he had promised. Then the women go to the apostles and tell them what they had experienced. Just think about that, women in a very patriarchal context telling the other male disciples what they had experienced, a vision of angels.
The disciples don’t believe the women. They think that the women as just telling ‘idle tales’, as it is written in the text. So, Peter runs and goes to check the veracity of their story. He looks inside the tomb and the body of Jesus is nowhere to be found. That was it. He could confirm that the tomb was empty. But he could not say what had happened to the body of Jesus. The tomb was empty but they could not account for the body of Jesus.
Then two disciples leave Jerusalem to Emmaus and in the road to Emmaus they meet this stranger who later on they will realise is Jesus because he will later reveal himself to them. But they are so sad, so distressed that they initially could not recognise the Lord. And even as they get together to eat, it is only Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of bread that they realise that it is Jesus. So they run back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples what they had seen, as they excitedly say, ‘The Lord has risen indeed!’
But, if you were one of the disciples who had only seen the death of Jesus and now, and now nearly three days after that you hear from a couple of disciples that Jesus is risen and has appeared to some, what would you say? The disciples are gathered together, they are back in the upper room, and they are discussing about what might have happened, they are not sure and are trying to make sense of the events of the past few days. And as they talk and discuss Jesus himself appears before them! Clearly, they don’t know what to make of it! They are indeed dumbfounded! Flabbergasted! They don’t know what to do!
It could only be a ghost, they thought! And Jesus says 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.’
Well, it is Jesus standing right in front of us! Or is it a ghost, a collective illusion? The last time we saw him he was dead! Dead! And there was no way someone could have survived that horrible crucifixion. We saw his lifeless body and put it into the tomb. So, what we are seeing here can’t be real.
Yes, you could say that Jesus had told them before about what was going to happen, that he would rise again, so they should have known better! But it is easier said than done, isn’t it? Before Jesus’ crucifixion, they were a happy band of pilgrims, without a care in the world because they had found the true messiah. They had found their raison d’etre, their reason for their existence, the purpose for their life, the meaning of their struggle. And they were now confident that the old order, that chaos, disorder, inequality, famine, injustice, they would be soon gone. And God was establishing his kingdom on earth, a new world, a new era was arriving.
But after Jesus had been crucified then, their joy had turned into sorrow, their hope in despair, their expectation of a new world had turned into disillusionment, and that fire of confidence which had been burning in their hearts had been dissolved into ashes. Thus, they are gathered there, supporting each other and trying to make sense of their situation. They had given up so much when they decided to follow the Messiah. Some had lost their jobs, families, friends, the respect of their community, and, oh, just think of the shame, the feeling of shame and embarrassment that were starting to feel. Had they fallen for one of the biggest scams in the history of humankind? Remember, there had been other people before who claimed that they were the messiah and some had followed them and later realised that they were wrong, that they had been deceived.
I like how the Gospel writer describes the disciples’ feelings a sit says, ‘in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering’.
Think about of this phrase because it quite paradoxical, isn’t it?
Yes, they were happy to see Jesus, that their belief had been vindicated now. Jesus is risen! But is he really? They were overjoyed to see the Lord, the risen Lord, but there were things to be processed in their minds. And I think that somehow it is a bit similar to us as well. We in celebrating Easter, we are joyful, happy, but still processing what really happened then, not just there, nearly 2000 years ago, but what is happening here, now, with you and me!
Jesus comes to us, he stands among us, he is right in front of us, he is within us. He is alive, he is risen! And we are happy to receive him, to welcome him again in our lives, sometimes not quite sure of what to make of all that, so we are still wondering, sometimes in doubt, sometimes in disbelief, but still we are gathered together here to support one another, to help each other make sense of the world, to make sense of the resurrection, to make sense of what is going on in our lives and in the world. And as we are gathered, Jesus appears! Jesus is there, right in front of us, saying, ‘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.’
Here is a lesson for us, and that is about the importance of gathering together, of being together as a community, physically or virtually. We do miss something of God’s revelation, of God’s presence when we neglect the experience of being together as a community of faith, as God’s people. Even when we feel weak, doubting, without faith, when we feel despondent, or despairing, we need to come together to help each other and in our journey of faith, some of us might have already seen the Lord, others are still waiting to see him to confirm their faith, others are not quite sure, but still we stick together because the Risen Lord is always about to show up in our midst!
The Lord is risen indeed!
Amen.