NO, HE IS NOT A GHOST!

Reflections on the Third Sunday of Easter (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; 1 John 2:1-5a; Luke 24:35-48)

The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost! We could posit at least three reasons why: 1. They knew well that Jesus truly died and did not just slip into a coma. To the Greco-Roman world, rising from the dead would have meant nothing but superstitious folklore. 2. As his body was entombed, the  Romans fixed a seal on the stone door of the tomb and placed a guard to secure it (Matthew 27:66). 3. The Risen Jesus seemed to casually walk through doors and walls and made startling unexplainable appearances inside locked rooms (John 20:19), on the road to Emmaus, and by lakeshores (21:1). Understandably therefore, the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost or a zombie! Jesus, especially in Luke’s Gospel, goes to great lengths to convince them otherwise. He invites them to touch him. He eats with them, makes them breakfast, breathes on them, etc., Why is Jesus not a ghost and why does it matter? Yes, he is different but he is the same master. Resurrection shows that there is a certain continuity in the discontinuity. Yes, he is different and yet he is their same master.

1. Between Incarnation and Resurrection: It is easy to confuse the Risen Lord’s apparitions with visions since we often associate apparitions with images. Jesus does not merely ‘appear’ as an image but as a person. He speaks to his disciples. He invites them to touch his body. He asks them for something to eat and when “they give him a piece of broiled fish, he takes it and eats it in their presence” (Luke 24:42-43). The logic of resurrection opposes the Greek dualistic idea that the body is merely the prison of the soul (Plato). Resurrection assumes and transforms incarnation. The Risen Lord, fully human and fully divine, demonstrates the radical unity of body, soul, and spirit. Resurrection is a materialistic and spiritual reality. Why is this important? The ‘corporeal’ resurrection of Jesus is a reminder that this worldly life matters. Our common destiny is not some other-worldly fantasy. Christian perception of the world is not some ‘spirit-world’ that has no relevance to this world. So, when we proclaim every Sunday, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body’, we also affirm that the world as we know it, our bodies, relationships, and work for justice, matter in the eternal and spiritual realm as it does in this transient and material realm.

2. Between Good Friday and Easter: The wounds of Jesus become his Aadhar card. He tells his disciples, “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”. He invites Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side”. Why did the Risen Jesus choose to keep his wounds? Why should those scars, which are reminders of the horrendous crucifixion, remain a part of the Glorified, transformed, exalted body? The wounds remind us of a continuity in the discontinuity between Easter Sunday and Good Friday. There can be no Easter Sunday without Good Friday, no resurrection without the death on the cross. The wounds show us that the victory of Easter is not magic! Friday’s sacrifice is key to Sunday’s glory. So what? Our scars, wounds, and marks matter! Our ‘daily crosses’ are true Aadhar cards. No matter the storm that faces our sail, God stands by us silently, helping the ‘grain of wheat to fall and die so that it may produce life and fruits” (John 12:24).  God doesn’t fix everything magically overnight but accompanies our individual journeys from Good Fridays to Easter Sundays. So Augustine proclaims, “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song”.

3. Between Christ and His Church: Today’s Gospel marks a crucial moment in Church’s history. Jesus sends his disciples on his mission. Christ passes on the relay baton of the proclamation of the Gospel to the Church. So “when the disciples stood gazing up toward heaven, they are asked, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” (Acts 1:10-11) implying “Go, get a move on with His mission”. Resurrection enables the Church to discover its true identity, mission, and purpose: to be a lasting witness. It is this ultimate mission that defines the Church’s body, its organization, its ministries, its present and future. It is this mission mandate that empowers it to face the different currents of history, keeping its course while also opening itself to new horizons. Christ does not abandon the Church but accompanies us in our witnessing mission. The Church is the body of Christ. It is not only guided by his presence but makes this presence accessible to our contemporaries.

It is this three-fold continuity in discontinuity that inspires us to:

1. Repentance (first reading): “God has thus brought to fulfilment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away”.

2. Keep his commandments with love (second reading): “The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments”.

3. And witness (gospel): "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". Jesus is not a ghost! So, our world matters, our crosses count, and our witness carries weight.