While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost …
… he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
(verses 36-37, 40-43)
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“Startled and frightened … joy and amazement.”
Such honest, familiar, recognizable responses of these disciples to the Resurrected Lord. Wouldn’t we have responded the same?
His sudden appearance in that upper room would have knocked their socks off. Yes, they’d just been talking about reports (that very day!) of his unexpected appearances, alive from the dead. But clearly, they weren’t expecting him to burst into their midst, right then, right there. I imagine they all took a staggering step backward from his presence, leaving a gaping circle round him, their hearts pounding and eyes startled wide in terror. How could such an apparition be anything but a ghost? Even his familiar voice speaking “Peace” over them wasn’t enough to still the shock, nor were his subsequent words (“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?”) adequate to entirely dispel their disquiet.
Indeed, the sight of his nail-pierced hands and feet couldn’t yet move them all the way toward belief – they were simply left trembling “with joy and amazement.” It’s as if their senses went into overload, unable to fully catch up as reality unfolded before them.
What else could we expect? These eye-witnesses were getting an eye-full. Meanwhile, despair was desperately trying to give way to full-throttled elation. The One on whom they’d staked all their hope, the One who had been mercilessly executed, was now standing before them, vibrantly alive. Really? Can it be?
I imagine the next moments played out under the Master’s own twinkling eye and grinning good humour. “Do you have anything here to eat?” he asks, almost chuckling. Hesitantly, they bring him the fish leftover from dinner, and he, without any hesitation whatsoever, tucks right in, his eyes shining, a grin forming as he munches the savoury offering.
Can’t you hear the humour in his voice as he then joyfully declares, “This is what I told you while I was still with you!” And he opened their minds to the mystery that this story had been laid out, long in advance, through all the Scriptures.
Reality dawned. Fright turned to faith. The fish helped! The disciples were finally able to fully embrace the wonder. Their joy and amazement persisted, yes, but now fully baptized in belief! Pounding hearts instead now burned within them.
And they never recovered.
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Lord Jesus, I want to marvel at your resurrection as profoundly as did these first disciples. I confess that – so often – I simply experience complacent dullness instead. Awaken me to the wonder. Shock me with the joy. Let me never recover. For the sake of your glory. Amen.
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Reflect:
What difference would a deeper apprehension of the wonder of Christ’s resurrection make in your own life? What step(s) can you take to get there? Pray for the Spirit to open that door wider.
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Photo by henry perks on Unsplash
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