April 14, 2024 Third Sunday of Easter The text is Luke 24:36b-48.

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^36bJesus himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look 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.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.
 ⁴⁴Then 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.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.”

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This morning is the Third Sunday of Easter, and we have just heard the third in a series of gospel resurrection accounts.  On Easter Sunday we read Mark’s version and you may recall that in that passage the women fled the tomb in fear and Jesus did not make a post-resurrection appearance.  Last Sunday’s gospel was taken from Saint John and in his telling of the Easter miracle we read that Jesus appeared twice to the disciples in a locked room; the first time, without Doubting Thomas, the second time, Thomas was among them.

During the course of those two appearances the disciples, including Thomas observed Jesus standing among them, showing them his wounds, bestowing upon them his peace, and breathing the Holy Spirit on them. 

And now this morning, a third resurrection story finds its way into the lectionary selected for this liturgical year, that of Saint Luke.  And in this gospel describing Jesus’ appearance to the disciples, we discover what can only be described as an inconsistency between Luke and John’s narratives.  We’ll come back to this divergence in a bit, but first we should review what has happened in Luke just prior to this morning’s reading.  On the evening of Easter two disciples were leaving Jerusalem, walking the seven miles or so to Emmaus.  During their walk a stranger comes alongside them, asking them what they were discussing.  The two, Cleopas and a companion were amazed that this stranger was not aware of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.  After bringing their walking companion up to speed about all that had happened, they invited him to dinner, since the hour was getting late.  Only when Jesus broke bread, blessed it, and gave it to them did they realize who it was they had been walking and speaking with.  The two rushed back to Jerusalem and informed the eleven original disciples that they had just encountered the risen Jesus.

And just as they were telling the others what they had experienced, we join them this morning as Jesus suddenly appears in their midst.  Greeting them in the usual Jewish custom, he says to them, “Peace be with you”.  And just as we read in John’s gospel last week, upon seeing the risen Christ the disciples were overcome with terror.  And this is the one emotion that we find in all of the gospel accounts of Easter and the time shortly after.  The women at the tomb were terrified by Jesus’ absence, and in both John’s gospel story of Jesus appearing in the locked room, and this morning’s account in Luke, the disciples react with terror when they encounter the risen Jesus.  Well, mostly terror…and also doubt.  Who can blame the women or the disciples for their fear or disbelief?; they witnessed Jesus’ death, and although he had foretold his rising again, they were nonetheless frightened and doubtful when he appeared among them.  It’s not every day that people encounter their executed teacher standing among them, three days after his demise, complete with pierced hands and wounded side.  So their terror and their doubt are real, and justified by the circumstances.

So we have read that when Jesus appeared among his followers he was met with fear, unrecognition, and doubt; and in Luke’s account this morning the otherwise faithful devout Jewish disciples imagined that the resurrected Jesus might actually be a ghost.  Fear can do strange things to people, make them believe that what they are seeing is not really what it is.  It is only after Jesus invites the disciples to examine his wounds that they come to believe he has been resurrected in body.  And this morning in Luke, Jesus convinces his doubtful followers that he is, in fact physically present by asking for and eating some fish in front of their eyes.  This appears to have done the trick; they listened as Jesus explained to them what the Hebrew Scriptures foretold about the suffering and resurrection that the Messiah must undergo.  His followers are now commanded to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name and to make disciples of the nations, as witnesses to the Gospel, the Good News of God in Christ.

But how to we reconcile the two similar, but distinctly different accounts of Jesus’ appearance to the eleven, the evening of that first Easter?  John reports that Jesus stood among the disciples in a locked room in the city of Jerusalem, but Luke writes that he walked alongside Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, before appearing among the disciples back in Jerusalem.  Both events clearly could not have happened at the same time.  And even if Jesus in his divinity had chosen to make both appearances, the disciples would not have responded in fear when he came among them a second time.  There is an obvious inconsistency here.  I submit to you however that the differences in these seemingly dissimilar accounts are of no importance to us, or to any of Jesus’ followers.

It has long been accepted that the gospel writers borrowed somewhat from each other and that John and Luke are simply writing the story of Jesus’ appearance after his resurrection in the way that each feels is most essential to their readers’ understanding of the miracle that is Christ’s rising from the dead.  The two accounts are similar enough that we must accept that Jesus’ appearance among the disciples did in fact happen, and the subtle differences are inconsequential to the fundamental truth of the story.  The astonishing fact is that Jesus Christ who was crucified has risen from the grave, by the grace of God, to secure salvation for all who believe in him.  No terror or doubt can alter this reality.      

What we’re left with then, once the details of the accounts are clarified is what Jesus commands from us, the very same things he instructed the disciples about. Like them, we are to be declaring witnesses, called to proclaim this truth which we believe.  We are current-day disciples of the risen One, commanded to spread the Gospel message; if not “to all nations”, at the very least, within our community.  Jesus makes it clear that his followers, including us are not serving the gospel by congregating behind locked doors or gathering within our own little group; the proclamation of Easter must be made outside our walls. 

Consider the communal statements we make in the several creeds of our faith.  “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord”.  “On the third day he rose again”.  “I believe in the forgiveness of sins”, “the resurrection of the body”.  These are intended to be more than words we have all learned by heart, they are supposed to be a call to action that is performed with a heart that is devoted to servanthood and discipleship.  Reciting our beliefs is a worthy endeavor, but we are called to put them into action in the service of others.  As witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are not faithful disciples if we allow fear to prevent us from proclaiming the Good News to others.  When is the last time you shared something about your faith with another person?  Were you compelled, but perhaps fear caused you to refrain from speaking up?  Have you recently done a service for another, provided something to a person in need?  In each case, either by word or deed, when we do these things, the gospel is proclaimed.  No sense in being a witness if we don’t share what we have witnessed with others.      

I have previously shared a quote from St. Teresa of Avila.  She  was a Spanish Carmelite nun in the early 1500’s, just about the same time Martin Luther was attempting to reform the church in Europe, and she was something of a reformer in her own right.  This is her prayer: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”  As witnesses to the resurrection of Christ Jesus and as his disciples we are called to proclaim his resurrection by serving as he is no longer able to.

His risen body retained the scars from the nails of the cross, and it is with our feet and hands that we must walk to serve and reach out to help those in need.  This is how we witness to the gospel, to the Good News of God in Christ.  As disciples, as followers, as believers, as servants. 

Will you pray with me?  Good, and gracious, and holy God, inspire us to be witnesses to the rising of your Son, proclaiming his resurrection to those who yearn for his salvation.  Help us to be willing to stride forth in proclamation of the gospel, boldly declaring the redemption secured by Christ’s rising.  And we pray these things in the name of the risen Jesus, the One who calls us to bear witness to the world.      

Amen.

God is Good, all the time.  All the time, God is Good.  Amen.