The Resurrection of the Body
Luke 24:36b-48, RSV
One of the Easter Gospel readings from St. Luke is the story of the appearance of the Risen Christ, another experience attested to by His startled disciples, and another reminder of the power of this Easter Season. Here, today, 2,000 years later, that experience echoes through our worship. Each Sunday we stand, and using the words of the Nicene Creed, we affirm our faith in the Risen Lord. We say, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”
This resurrected Jesus was no hallucination. “A spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have,” (verse 39) He said to them. And when “some still disbelieved for joy, and wondered,” He asked them if they had anything to eat. “They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate before them.” (verses 42-43) No, the Gospel writers wanted to make clear to all subsequent generations that Jesus was raised from the dead — and was alive, not as an apparition, nor as some mysterious spiritual being, but as a real, living, breathing and eating person. They wanted to pass on, as 1 John says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” (1 John 1:1)
We are those who have been encountered by the Risen Christ. Remember, all this happened on Easter Sunday. His disciples, the church — us — we were all huddled together not knowing what to do next. Then He came, stood among us, spoke to us words of reassurance and new life. He gave us hope to believe. Then He explained to us the Scriptures.
See? That is us on every Sunday morning. We gather as a body, and then Jesus comes among us. He gives us physical, tangible proof of His presence — the gathered body, the bread and wine which are signs of His Presence, the history and tradition of the Church — all of which helps to strengthen our faith. This is the physical, bodily presence of Christ.
So, let us celebrate that Presence, sometimes so difficult to describe with words, but so deep and reassuring. Let us come to the Lord’s Table and celebrate the Presence of the Resurrected Christ among His people, in the body. Come, Lord Jesus, come.
