“You guys, it’s really me! I’m not a ghost, I promise!” says Jesus, after walking through a wall or somehow otherwise miraculously appearing before his disciples. Of course, they are startled and terrified. Corporeal beings are not known for entering rooms without using the door — nor for rising from the dead, for that matter. But Jesus is eager to show the eleven and their companions that he is present with them in his body. The gathered disciples have just heard from Cleopas and his fellow traveler how Jesus appeared to them on the road to Emmaus. Then suddenly Jesus himself is there, right in front of them. They think he must be a ghost, but Jesus quickly dispels their fears. He shows them his hands and feet. He encourages them to touch him, to see and feel his flesh and bones. And then, in case they are still unconvinced, he asks for something to eat. Ghosts don’t need dinner. It really is Jesus! He is risen. His body is not quite his old body, but it is still a real body, one that they can touch. He can share a meal with them, as he has countless times before. The disciples have a mixed reaction to all of this. Jesus asks them for something to eat “while in their joy, they were disbelieving and still wondering.” The disciples take joy in Christ’s presence, in recognizing that their Lord is risen and with them in body. I imagine they felt a sense of surprise and excitement while also feeling comforted; Jesus was back at the center of their fellowship. But Luke tells us that their joy is mingled with disbelief and wonderment. They do not yet understand how it could be that their Lord is risen from the dead. And they do not yet understand what this means for their lives. They would not be returning to the way things were during Jesus’ life. Instead, they were about to be commissioned by Jesus to witness his resurrection to all nations. 2,000 or so years later, on the third Sunday of Easter, we find ourselves with similarly mixed emotions. We are still calling and responding that the Lord is risen — he is risen indeed! We are still singing Easter hymns and giving thanks for the resurrection. We have Easter joy, but we are also disbelieving and still wondering. We have many questions about how Jesus could appear in a real body and eat real food, but mysteriously appear and disappear from the view of his disciples. We have doubts about Jesus’s resurrection and ascension — Did those things really happen? And if so, why is the world still such a mess? And we wonder what it means that we are called, along with the disciples, to proclaim the gospel of repentance and forgiveness. Our joy is mingled with doubts and questions. And in this time of great turmoil, death and destruction, war and famine, and division and fear, we long for a sign of the resurrection. We long for assurance that Jesus really is alive, working to make all things new. ... Read the rest of the commentary on the website.
Thanks to this week's writer Ellen Williams Hensle. | 
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