Luke 24:36b-48
We Christians are a strange lot, according to the world. We believe in things that many people find completely incredible. Angels and demons – and a dead man rising back to life! That makes a lot of people think only of zombies, to tell the truth. Or ghosts.
There are so many different ways of seeing things – so many different ways of understanding the world. I was reading something last week that stated that every religion answers two questions: What is real? And what is important? And it is these questions that sharply divide Christians from those who do not believe.
The disciples had a lesson in our Gospel today about what was real. They thought, as everyone else does, that once a person had died, they stayed dead. And so, when Jesus appeared to them, they at once jumped to the conclusion that he was a ghost. I think they had never heard of zombies in that culture!
Jesus had quite a time convincing them that he was not a ghost! He had to show them his wounds to prove that it was really him and not a look-alike. He even had to eat some fish to prove he was not a ghost. (Good thing they didn't have any brains lying around...)
That makes us ponder, what is it that has convinced US that Jesus is alive? How has God reached into our lives and changed our way of seeing? For all our texts make it quite clear that we cannot see the truth, we cannot know what is real, what is important, unless it is revealed to us by God's own self.
“You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory? How long will you love illusions and seek after lies?” says our Psalm today. “Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”
And this is indeed what many are saying. They want to be shown something good, they want to know what is real and what is important, but they just can't see it. This world is a mirrored fun-house, where illusion is just as convincing as the truth. How can any of us know the truth?
There is only one way, and Jesus brings that way to his disciples. “He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” God is the one who brings understanding to our minds. God is the one who enables us to understand what is real and what is important.
The people that Peter was preaching to had seriously misunderstood the situation when Jesus had been killed. “You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” Can't get more misunderstood than that, can you? And now, is God furious with them? Has God rejected them?
No! Peter tells them, “I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” They couldn't help it, God had not revealed the truth to them, so that God's plan of redemption could be carried out. So Peter goes on and offers them the way out: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” This is always the way God works; God offers us forgiveness and a chance at a new beginning. Even when we have acted in ignorance, even when we knew perfectly well what we were doing was wrong, God offers us forgiveness and and new start.
And then a miracle happens. We see the truth. We see the truth about ourselves, we see the truth about God, and we see the way forward, the way to God. A few steps, anyway. Enough to be going on with. Steps in the right direction. Steps out of the fun house, the house of mirrors, the world of illusion.
God speaks to us through the words of scripture. God speaks to us through the words of preachers. God speaks to us through the wonder of nature. God speaks to us through the love of the community. God speaks to us in the silence of the dark of the night. God never stops speaking to us, calling us, revealing God's own self, God's own love to us.
This is what is real. This is what is important. God's love shown to us in the old stories about Jesus rising from the tomb. God's love shown to us in the healing done in Jesus' name. God's love shown to us in the forgiveness of sins.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” Thanks be to God. Amen.
We Christians are a strange lot, according to the world. We believe in things that many people find completely incredible. Angels and demons – and a dead man rising back to life! That makes a lot of people think only of zombies, to tell the truth. Or ghosts.
There are so many different ways of seeing things – so many different ways of understanding the world. I was reading something last week that stated that every religion answers two questions: What is real? And what is important? And it is these questions that sharply divide Christians from those who do not believe.
The disciples had a lesson in our Gospel today about what was real. They thought, as everyone else does, that once a person had died, they stayed dead. And so, when Jesus appeared to them, they at once jumped to the conclusion that he was a ghost. I think they had never heard of zombies in that culture!
Jesus had quite a time convincing them that he was not a ghost! He had to show them his wounds to prove that it was really him and not a look-alike. He even had to eat some fish to prove he was not a ghost. (Good thing they didn't have any brains lying around...)
That makes us ponder, what is it that has convinced US that Jesus is alive? How has God reached into our lives and changed our way of seeing? For all our texts make it quite clear that we cannot see the truth, we cannot know what is real, what is important, unless it is revealed to us by God's own self.
“You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory? How long will you love illusions and seek after lies?” says our Psalm today. “Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”
And this is indeed what many are saying. They want to be shown something good, they want to know what is real and what is important, but they just can't see it. This world is a mirrored fun-house, where illusion is just as convincing as the truth. How can any of us know the truth?
There is only one way, and Jesus brings that way to his disciples. “He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” God is the one who brings understanding to our minds. God is the one who enables us to understand what is real and what is important.
The people that Peter was preaching to had seriously misunderstood the situation when Jesus had been killed. “You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” Can't get more misunderstood than that, can you? And now, is God furious with them? Has God rejected them?
No! Peter tells them, “I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” They couldn't help it, God had not revealed the truth to them, so that God's plan of redemption could be carried out. So Peter goes on and offers them the way out: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” This is always the way God works; God offers us forgiveness and a chance at a new beginning. Even when we have acted in ignorance, even when we knew perfectly well what we were doing was wrong, God offers us forgiveness and and new start.
And then a miracle happens. We see the truth. We see the truth about ourselves, we see the truth about God, and we see the way forward, the way to God. A few steps, anyway. Enough to be going on with. Steps in the right direction. Steps out of the fun house, the house of mirrors, the world of illusion.
God speaks to us through the words of scripture. God speaks to us through the words of preachers. God speaks to us through the wonder of nature. God speaks to us through the love of the community. God speaks to us in the silence of the dark of the night. God never stops speaking to us, calling us, revealing God's own self, God's own love to us.
This is what is real. This is what is important. God's love shown to us in the old stories about Jesus rising from the tomb. God's love shown to us in the healing done in Jesus' name. God's love shown to us in the forgiveness of sins.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” Thanks be to God. Amen.
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