The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today recall that we know in our bodies the blessing of living in Jesus name.
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| Light and Life |
The reading from the Book of Acts is Peter’s Speech urging the Jews to accept the forgiveness of the risen Christ as they experience healing of the crippled man in His Name.
* [3:18] Through the mouth of all the prophets: Christian prophetic insight into the Old Testament saw the crucifixion and death of Jesus as the main import of messianic prophecy. The Jews themselves did not anticipate a suffering Messiah; they usually understood the Servant Song in Is 52:13–53:12 to signify their own suffering as a people. In his typical fashion (cf. Lk 18:31; 24:25, 27, 44), Luke does not specify the particular Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. See also note on Lk 24:26.1
Psalm 8 offers praise for the royal dignity and power that God has graciously bestowed upon us.
* [Psalm 8] While marvelling at the limitless grandeur of God (Ps 8:2–3), the psalmist is struck first by the smallness of human beings in creation (Ps 8:4–5), and then by the royal dignity and power that God has graciously bestowed upon them (Ps 8:6–9).2
The Gospel from Luke describes The Appearance of Jesus to the Disciples in Jerusalem.
* [24:36–43, 44–49] The Gospel of Luke, like each of the other gospels (Mt 28:16–20; Mk 16:14–15; Jn 20:19–23), focuses on an important appearance of Jesus to the Twelve in which they are commissioned for their future ministry. As in Lk 24:6, 12, so in Lk 24:36, 40 there are omissions in the Western text.3
Angela Maynard invites us to take some time to consider how we felt throughout Holy Week. Do we notice any parallels to the feelings of the disciples?
Great fear and confusion are the emotions that are described initially. Jesus goes on to try to calm them. He shows then his hands and feet to convince them that he is not a ghost. Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones. The disciples move into emotions described as joy and amazement. He asks his now joyful friends if they have any food for him to eat. Jesus shares some baked fish with them.4
In Don Schwager’s Meditation he asks: Aren't we like the apostles? We won't believe unless we can see with our own eyes. The Gospel accounts attest to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Jesus goes to great lengths to assure his disciples that he is no mere ghost or illusion. He shows them the marks of his crucifixion and he explains how the Scriptures foretold his death and rising. Don Schwager quotes St. Jerome (347-420 AD), an early church bible scholar.
"As he showed them real hands and a real side, he really ate with his disciples; really walked with Cleophas; conversed with men with a real tongue; really reclined at supper; with real hands took bread, blessed and broke it, and was offering it to them... Do not put the power of the Lord on the level with the tricks of magicians, so that he may appear to have been what he was not, and may be thought to have eaten without teeth, walked without feet, broken bread without hands, spoken without a tongue, and showed a side which had no ribs." (From a letter to Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 34)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 24:35-48 notes there’s another reason why Jesus wanted his apostles—and us—to know he rose bodily. He wanted to show us how important our own bodies are.
You see, the “resurrection of the body” that we profess in the Apostles’ Creed tells us that our bodies, imperfect or ailing though they may be, are precious to God. When Jesus became man, he healed the sick and fed the hungry as a sign of his care for every part of who we are. He will raise up everything about us, including our ability to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell all the beauty he has created in this world.
This is also why Jesus gives himself to us physically in the Eucharist and why he sends his people out to take care of each other in hands-on ways. He wants everyone to know how much he treasures them—all of them 6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the apologia of Luke in Acts wherein Pilate becomes the innocent one in Jesus execution. The pattern we know of experiencing Christ first by hearing about Him, then in Word and Sacrament, and finally by recognizing His Presence in the people and Creation around us is included in the teaching of Luke. Friar Jude responds to the forgiveness offered by Jesus to those outside His community by asking us how much parish resources go to outreach?
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares some thoughts around the observation that for most of the first six centuries of Christianity, the moment of Jesus’ resurrection was deemed unpaintable or uncarvable.
After the resurrection stories, more followers dared to see Jesus as “the Lord”—or at least as one with the Lord, understood as “Son of God.” One could say Jesus is gradually revealed as “Light,” especially in the three accounts of the “Transfiguration” (Matthew 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36). These are likely transplanted resurrection accounts, as is the story of Jesus walking on the water.
Most of us, if we are listening and looking, also have such resurrection moments in the middle of our lives, when “the veil parts” now and then. Jesus says, “Believe in the light so that you also may become children of the light” (John 12:36), letting us know that we participate in the same mystery, and he is here to aid the process.
Back in 1967, my systematic theology professor, Fr. Cyrin Maus, OFM, told us that if a video camera had been placed in front of Jesus’ tomb, it wouldn’t have filmed a lone man emerging from a grave (which would be resuscitation more than resurrection). More likely, he felt, it would’ve captured something like beams of light extending in all directions.7
The “resurrected body” of Jesus continues to be evidence of His Presence. Our faith experience is intimately tied to our own body. “For Catholics, the body matters” is a cliche of faith, creed, and experience of His Presence.
References
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(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 8 - usccb. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/8
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(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
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(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
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(n.d.). Thursday within the Octave of Easter - Mass Readings and Catholic .... Retrieved April 25, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/04/25/
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(2019, April 25). From Darkness to Light — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from https://cac.org/from-darkness-to-light-2019-04-25/
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