On Jesus Sightings Beyond the Jello

The morning of Easter Sunday I read Luke 24, the chapter that tells what happened on Resurrection Sunday.  I’ve been sitting with the text for a couple of days and I can’t help wondering if we should be expecting post-Resurrection appearances of Christ over the next few weeks? I want to imagine that the Risen Christ celebrates Easter with the rest of us, thrilled as we are over the miraculous love that out pours from the communion of the Trinity, the love that took on flesh, suffered, died and conquered death to invite us back into that delicious Holy and unending love-fest. Reading about the “Walk to Emmaus” and the “Upper Room” experience moves me to believe that today as much as 2000+ years ago, Christ still delights in making what I might call “commemorative post-Resurrection appearances” in these immediate days and weeks following Easter.

As we enter this new ecclessial season could the Spirit be inviting us to reclaim expectancy, to be alert for the coming of the Lord in more ways than are habitual for us?  We have sang the Easter Alleluias and feasted on the bread and wine. I wonder if over the next few days and weeks we might…

…pay a bit more attention to strangers we meet as we head from place to place during our daily activities (Luke 24:15.)

What strikes me here is that the disciples were talking to one another about the things of God, sharing their disappointments and expectations with honesty and openness. Christ met them there.

…keep our ears perked for those conversations that take an unexpected turn (Luke 24:25-27)

What strikes me is that these friends allowed a stranger to journey with them and were open to listening to an alternate perspective and reality from their own. Christ met them there.

…be open to receiving the words we would normally assume to be “nonsense” because they are outside the realm of our limited imagination (Luke 24:11.)

What strikes me is that within the historical context women were not believed to be credible sources. We risk missing the life-transforming reality of God’s presence when we too readily dismiss those whom our culture has taught us to marginalize.

…practice believing the words and circumstances that seem too good to be true, the things that threaten to overwhelm us with the sheer joy of their possibility and reality (Luke 24:40-41.)

What strikes me is how easy it is to disbelieve in and fail to acknowledge some of God’s greatest gifts to us even when they are right in out faces.

..seek to remember and meditate on all the words of God, the breathtaking promises of the Gospels and Epistles, and the treasures and gifts of the Hebrew scriptures (Luke 24:44-45.)

What strikes me is how we so often hang on to the parts of scripture we “like” or are familiar with and forget that the Word of God is chock-full of wisdom.

…struggle with what it means to be  “witnesses” to the reality of a Risen Christ who offers forgiveness and life (Luke 24:48.)

What strikes me is how much we (I) forget that we are called to be witnesses in so many subtle and normative ways that do not require us being “missionaries,” or “evangelists.” Usually it just requires living as though we truly believe that God DID become man and Christ DID rise from the dead. If we could just work on that I suspect it would be an excellent start.

…have the patience and wisdom to not only do what God calls us to, and be whom God calls us to be but also to trust in God’s timing and provision over our own (Luke 24:49.)

The Holy Spirit teaches and guides and equips. If only we remembered more often what divine power is available for those who call on the Spirit.

Here’s to another grace-filled round of seeking to be an “Easter People.”