But the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were
seeing a ghost! "Why are you frightened?" he asked. "Why do
you doubt who I am? Look at my hands, touch me and make sure that I am
not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies
as you see that I do!"You and Cleopas settle in, noticing the bread from an earlier dinner sitting on the table. You both grab a piece and drink the water which is offered.
“So what did you two see,” asks James, John’s older brother.
“What?” replies Cleopas. “Who! And not just see, we talked to him, well he mostly talked to us, from the Scriptures. No one knows the prophets and the Law like Jesus, and what he told us was, is, amazing. My friends, this is exactly what is supposed to happen, all of this. The prophets told us, only we didn’t listen. We didn’t understand. Jesus was, is, the Messiah. He spent hours going through and showing us. What did he tell you Peter?”
Peter doesn’t answer. No one answers. They are staring at you, their eyes filled with wonder, shocked. Then you realize they’re not staring at you as much as through you, past you. Something is behind you. You turn.
Jesus is standing there, a smile on his face, a glow in his eyes.
“Peace be with you,” he says, like there was nothing unusual in his being here. Like it was a regular visit.
No one could speak. You drop your piece of bread on the table. You locked the doors behind you when you came in, yet here he is, without opening the door. Maybe he is a ghost, a spirit with a message.
He looks around at each person, continuing to smile, waiting for someone to say something. Then he laughs.
“Why do you still doubt?” he asks. “Look at me, touch me. I’m not a ghost, ghosts don’t have bodies.”
He holds out his hands… there are holes in the wrists, nail wounds. Then he shows us his feet… nail wounds, perfectly healed, but scarred, very scarred.
Still no one says anything. He walks in, grabs a chair and sits down.
“Do you have anything to eat,” he asks. “I’m very hungry.”
He turns and looks at you, then winks. A woman gets up from one of the chairs and goes into the kitchen. She comes back with a large piece of broiled fish, still warm, and some bread. She hands it to Jesus. He takes the plate with a great smile of appreciation.
“Thanks Martha,” he says. While everyone watches, he eats and seems to very much enjoy the food, just like someone who had been on a long journey without supplies.
This is not what anyone expected. For a man to rise from the dead, a man like Jesus, and sit here contented and eating a piece of fish is not within comprehension. He is sitting there, as if he was here yesterday, and making no more remarks about what has happened. Doesn’t this mean anything? Didn’t he die for a reason? When are we going to seize the kingdom? That’s what everyone is thinking, you know. Jesus is the Messiah, so when is he going to act like it? The time is now, and he is busy cleaning his plate. Doesn’t he understand?
He wipes his mouth with a piece of cloth, and looks at everyone again.
“You know,” he says, “I told you that everything written about me must come to pass, and still you sit there surprised. Maybe you forget what I taught. Maybe you forget what they wrote.”
He settles back into his chair, and without any ceremony begins to speak, beginning where he began on the road to Emmaus. It is just as exciting to you, for there is so much to learn that being told again brings more insight. No one speaks. Who can? Jesus is giving the greatest lecture in history, the most enlightening insight into the Scriptures ever. He is not only a master teacher, he is the one who is being taught about. He is the subject and the tutor all at once, and here you are sitting and listening, a privilege without measure.
He continues through the prophets, going in a slightly different order than before, with some different commentary, making you sure this is not just a memorized sermon, but a reflection on something he truly knows.
“So you see, it was written long ago about all that would happen this last week. I was to die, and rise again in three days. The Temple was destroyed and has been rebuilt. With my authority take this message to all the nations, beginning here in this city. Tell people that there is forgiveness of sins for those who turn to me. You are the witnesses of all of this.
“Only before you tell people, wait until the Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
He smiles again, takes a sip from the goblet in front of him, looks around, and stands up. Once again he looks at each person with a quick glance, and when his eyes rest on you something happens. You see in him that which you have only tasted before, something real. Heaven. You see heaven and eternity in him, and it fills you with joy and courage. This quick glance, full of power and wisdom, fills you also with peace, wonderful peace.
Still no one says anything. Everyone feels overwhelmed in the moment. Jesus laughs again and turns, then walks into the kitchen. No one stirs, expecting him to come back in, expecting him to do something unexpected.
Martha gets up again, picks up some plates and walks into the kitchen. She stops at the doorway.
“He’s gone,” she says, “He’s not in here.”
Everyone stands, and says, “What?!”
You all go and look. She’s right. The door is still locked and he is not around.
What he said still resonates. He is alive. This is all according to plan, and whatever happens next, whatever it is, is going to be wonderful. Your only task, your only order from Jesus, is to wait. Wait for him to give word. Wait for the Spirit of the Lord to bring power.
“Can we pray?” John says.“I feel a need to pray while we wait.”
Everyone agrees. And so John begins to pray, continuing until dawn.
Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and
be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
but taht which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes form
God and is by faith. My dear Jesus. What you say comes to pass, what you ask is fulfilled, what you promise is honored. You are the one who speaks with Truth. In you we find more than religious words, we find reality. We find hope, we find light. When we doubt it is not because of your lack it is because of our own ignorance, for you have taught the words of Life, and have offered them to us. They are words of Truth for those who would hear. May I learn to trust, and be diligent in learning all that you have said, and all that has been said about you. For you ask for faith and understanding. You give us light in the heart and enlightening in our mind. Thank you, dear Jesus, for your persistence in teaching even me.