hOlybytes

Luke 24:36b-48        Jesus himself stood among the disciples and their companions and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said 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. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

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." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 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, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Reflection         There is a lot of confusion about Pre-Easter Jesus and Post-Easter Christ. Pre-Easter Jesus walked with the disciples and entered rooms through open doors. Post-Easter Christ appears among his disciples, even though the doors of the room are shut or locked. Pre-Easter Jesus is known by the physical senses and readily recognized. Post-Easter Christ is known by spiritual realization, the mysterious opening of our eyes and our minds to recognize Christ present in strangers and our selves.

In other words, Post-Easter Christ arises from within when the disciples are gathered, thinking about Pre-Easter Jesus, talking about him, remembering him. Post-Easter Christ emerges as peace, peace that arises from the depths of our being, peace that surpasses our understanding and supplants everything else. 

This is the peace Pre-Easter Jesus left for all of us when he said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.”(John 14.27-28)

Although Pre-Easter Jesus must go away (after all he is mortal), he leaves his peace with us, the unspeakable peace which is the calling card of Post-Easter Christ. This is how Post-Easter Christ makes himself known to us, by the peace that arises within and among us when things are frightening, chaotic or as bad as they can be. 

Pre-Easter Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you…”  Post-Easter Christ fulfills the blessing, being the peace that unseats all else. 

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