Golden Days of Resurrection (1)
Jock Stein
April 21, 2023
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Luke 24: 36-49 (NRSVA)
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 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.’ 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
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.’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 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, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
Jesus had a golden key which opened the minds of his friends to understand the scriptures (verse 45). As the one who fulfils the Psalms (verse 44) Jesus holds the key of David (Revelation 3: 7), so he can help them — and us — understand what is written, but he also holds a golden key to unlock the meaning of our own lives. He invited his friends to touch him. They would remember that touch, and John would years later write about how his hands had touched the word of life (1 John 1: 1).
In that letter, written to us all (in symbol, John mentions children, young men and fathers, 1 John 2: 12-14), he stresses how important it is to agree that Jesus Christ came as a real man. He would remember watching Jesus take a snack in the presence of his friends, just after he had risen (Luke 24: 42). Angels and spirits do not eat, but Jesus is still one of us, no angel, no ghost but wearing our flesh and blood and bones.
PRAY:
Lord Jesus, take your precious key and unlock the meaning of my life, and of my generation. Where there are lives blocked by confusion and pain, unlock them into clarity and calm. Where there are relationships knotted and hurt, unlock them into love and joy. Where there are lands filled with the concrete blocks of past and present wars, unlock them into peace and fruitfulness. Amen.
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