Easter 3 – 19 Apr 2015 – Year B

Easter 3 – 19 Apr 2015 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for our meditation is written in the 24^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 26 – 43.

³⁶While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."  ³⁷They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." ⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate it in their presence.

Let us pray: Father, guide the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, that in your word of truth we will find the faith to truly believe what we confess in the creed “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

There seems to be some scientific evidence that the daily intake of fish oil capsules or omega 3 supplements or a regular diet of boiled or baked fish each week can reduce the risk of heart attacks. If that is the case, then it's probably a good thing that many of the disciples were fishermen and most likely ate fish regularly, because what happened to the disciples was one of those real shockers. They all had to have had good strong hearts to cope with what happened that first Easter.

The doors were locked. There was great deal of excitement as Cleopas and his companion described their encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They told how Jesus was revealed to them as they sat down to an evening meal and Jesus broke and blessed the bread. - Then, all of sudden, Jesus was standing there, smiling. He suddenly appears from out of nowhere. He didn’t enter through the doors – they were locked. The last time they had seen Jesus he was as dead as anyone could be and they had laid him in a grave. When you do that, you don’t expect to see that person standing right there in front of you again. It’s no wonder that Luke says that they were "startled and frightened".

In reality, that is an understatement. Put yourselves in the disciple’s sandals – the body of Jesus buried three days prior, was just that, a dead body – when it comes to death there is no degrees; I mean you can’t be a little bit dead.  In reality, if the door had not been so tightly locked, Jesus probably would have been the only one left in the room!

HERE WE HAVE A POINT: The Old Testament prophets foretold of Jesus death and resurrection – Jesus told the disciples of his coming death and resurrection – The women saw the open grave and heard the angel tell of Jesus resurrection – Peter and John ran to grave and saw for themselves – Cleopas and his companion told the disciples that they had actually seen and spoken with the risen Jesus – Jesus appears and shows them his scars – and there is still unbelief.  Friends – should Jesus have been offended? -  Friends – was Jesus offended? – And what about us? Are we any different to the disciples? I mean we weren’t even there! – Do we believe God’s Word? – Do we still harbour unbelief just like the disciples? – Again, is Jesus offended? – Let’s consider that and revisit it later.

I once read about a judge in Yugoslavia who had an unfortunate accident. He was electrocuted when he reached up to turn on the light while standing in the bathtub. His wife found his body sprawled on the bathroom floor. She called for help, friends and neighbours, police - everyone showed up. He was pronounced dead and taken to the funeral home. The local radio picked up the story and broadcast it all over the airwaves.

In the middle of the night, the judge regained consciousness. He realised where he was, and rushed over to alert the night watchman, who promptly ran off, terrified.

The first thought of the former corpse was to phone his wife and reassure her. But he got no further than, "Hello darling, it’s me," when she screamed and fainted. He tried calling a couple of the neighbours but they all thought it was some sort of sick prank. He even went so far as to go to the homes of several friends but they were all sure he was a ghost and shrieked and slammed the door in his face. Finally, he was able to call a friend in the next town who hadn't heard of his death. This friend was able to convince his family and other friends that he really was alive.

In the same way, Jesus had to convince the disciples that he wasn’t a ghost. He had to dispel their doubts and their fears. He showed them his hands and his feet. He invited them to touch him and see that he was real. And he even ate a piece of cooked fish with them; all to prove that he was alive; all to prove that he wasn’t a spook, a ghost, a spirit. He was standing there in the flesh. He was as real and alive as he had been when he had walked, talked and ate with them over the past three years.

When we confess the final statement in the Apostles’ Creed; "I believe … in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We are saying along with Paul, in Phil 3:21, that Jesus "will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body."  - We are stating that death is not the final "Amen" of our life. We will rise again to life not just as a ghost or a spirit, but we will rise bodily and enjoy eternal life with a new body.

In 1 Cor 15 Paul gives this wonderful description. He says, "This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised, it will be immortal. When buried, it is ugly and weak; when raised, it will be beautiful and strong ... What is mortal must be changed into immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die."

Paul declares without apology that in heaven our failing, aging, decaying, and dying bodies will be replaced with bodies that are immortal and incorruptible. Our bodies, our hearts, our minds, our personalities, our relationships will become what God originally intended they should be.

No other religion, no other philosophy promises new bodies, new hearts, new minds. Only in the Gospel of Jesus do we find the promise that no matter what may afflict us here, that affliction will be removed in heaven.
Can you imagine the hope this gives to someone who has suffered a spinal cord injury or the person who suffers from the terrible affliction of cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis?
Can you imagine the hope that gives to the person who suffers daily from the pain of crippling arthritis or the terrible pain of cancer?
Can you imagine what this promise of Jesus means to those who bodies and minds have become weak and frail because of old age?
Can you imagine what this promise gives to the parents of a young teenager whose body was severely crushed and disfigured in a car accident?
Can you imagine what this promise means to those who are waiting at death’s door, looking forward to the moment when they will be transported from this life into the presence of Jesus?
Friends the really good news is that what we imagine, is in fact God’s scriptural promise to each and every one of us. This is the promise we embrace within us as we face the rigours of each day. This is the promise that will give us peace beyond measure, when the day comes when we will leave this life and our bodies are placed in a grave.

Was / is Jesus offended – NO! – Grace – abundant grave prevailed – for you see, this is the promise Jesus fulfils at our baptism – the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit which enables us to cling to our faith in Jesus’ promises; and also the gracious gift of the sacrament of the alter – Holy Communion – Christ’s body and blood that seals our absolution from sins and strengthens us to continue to listen to and believe God’s word of truth.

I’m sure you have a million questions about all this just as I do? What kind of body will we have? One like Jennifer Hawkins? Or like Ian Thorpe? Will we all look alike? What if we prefer the muscles of a body-builder or the shape of a model? Does our glorified body also have a glorified digestive system? In fact, will we need to eat? What about sleeping? Because others will have new bodies will we recognize them? And what about those people whose earthly bodies have been destroyed by fire, bombs, or eaten by sharks or wild animals? We could go on.

You and I are not among the first to have wondered this. The apostle Paul tells us that his readers were puzzled by all this as well. He says, "Someone will ask, "How can the dead be raised to life? What kind of body will they have?" Paul doesn’t answer most of our questions but he does say that we will have a new and wonderful body. Like Paul, the best we can do when trying to describe what will happen to us when we rise from the dead is to go to nature for pictures to help us understand.

When we look at a dahlia bulb it doesn’t look very interesting, in fact it’s quite ugly. But when the bulb is planted, it grows into a bush that has the most wonderful flowers. At this time we are the bulb with all of our imperfections and weaknesses, but one day we will rise to be like the flower, more beautiful, and attractive than we could have ever imagined. The dahlia flower has some connection with the bulb, but it is far more glorious.

Or look at a caterpillar and see how ugly and hairy it is. After a short time entombed in a cocoon we marvel at how its body has changed and how beautiful it has become. So it will be for us when we leave this life and are raised to eternal life. To use Paul’s words, "This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is ugly and weak; when it is raised, it will beautiful and strong (1 Corinthians 15:42.43).

Not only will our bodies be new and glorious but also our minds will be renewed. In this life our minds are filled with all kinds of sinful things, selfishness, greed, sexual immorality, deceit, hatred and so on. When we are raised all this will be a thing of the past. What we now search for daily; God’s will for us; We will come to know perfectly. Our relationships will be perfect especially our relationship with God. In other words, we will be just as God had intended the human race to be when he first created them and placed them in the Garden of Eden. What it will be like in heaven is something far more glorious than anything we could try to imagine in this life. The Bible only gives us glimpses of the beauty of eternal life because words fail to describe something that wonderful.

Jesus’ resurrection defeated the power of sin and death. If the power of sin had not been destroyed then we would have to face the judgment of God and hell. If the power of death had not been destroyed, our last breath would be the end of us and there would be no hope of life beyond the grave. But God’s word has spoken - Christ has risen! He is alive! He showed himself to the disciples to be alive bodily. Christ has risen and we will too! We will rise from the grave and enjoy a life in heaven without any of the weaknesses and blemishes in our bodies that we now endure. We will enjoy a life without the worries, stresses, pain and uncertainty that we undergo in this world. It’s absolutely guaranteed!

In our Gospel reading, we heard how the disciples were terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost. The once dead Jesus stood right there amongst them and invited them to touch him, look at his wounds, and join him in a meal. And even though they couldn’t understand how this was possible, they were still full of "joy and wonder". We don’t understand everything about the resurrection and especially about our own resurrection. There are those who say we are foolish believing such things, but the whole idea of a resurrection after this life also fills us with "joy and wonder". It gives us peace and comfort when we become afraid of what death will to do to us and our families. In 1 Cor 15:20, Paul sums up our words of reassurance, "Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised." Amen.

The grace and peace of God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen