9-Apr-15

Gospel LK 24:35-48
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
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
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
Reflection:
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?"
Those who knew Jesus and saw his miracles before he died on the cross were unwilling or perhaps unable to believe that it was really him when they encountered him after the resurrection.
"Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
Of the five senses, sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste, the one we most trust is touch. We may question what we see or hear and also what we smell and taste, but to touch something is to know with certainty that it exist.
Yet, after having told them to touch him, they were still "incredulous."
At this point he asked, “Have you anything here to eat?”They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.
He did not ask for something to eat because he was hungry. He asked for something to eat to put their doubts to rest. By eating in front of them, he was in effect saying ghosts do not eat; I am real. I am alive.
Earlier in scripture, when raising a little girl from the dead, Jesus also told doubting witnesses to give her something to eat to convince them that the child was indeed once again alive. "Jesus instructed them very earnestly not to tell what had happened and told them to give her something to eat." Mark 5:43
Jesus is patient and understanding of our struggle to believe. He does whatever is necessary to convince us of his divinity.
That was the whole point of his performing miracles; that through miraculous signs those who doubted his words might come to believe in his message of God's unconditional love and forgiveness.
Today, Jesus continues to perform miracles through those who have come to believe in him.
The mother, who prays that her son will come to grips with his alcoholism, bows to Christ in gratitude when someone in Alcoholic Anonymous embraces her boy and starts him on the road to recovery.
The woman preparing to move from a shelter to an apartment without furniture prays and the next day someone hands her a card with the telephone number of My Brother's Keeper.
Miracles are happening every day but first, like Jesus, we must help people come to believe.
"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 2:5