RECOGNISING THE RISEN CHRIST

Reflection on Easter Day: Acts 10:34a,37-43, Colossians 3:1-4, John 20:1-9

A common thread shared by most resurrection narratives in the gospels is that the disciples do not recognise the Risen Christ. On Easter morning at the tomb, Mary Magdalene mistakes him for a gardener (John 20). The disciples on the road to Emmaus mistake him for a traveller (Luke 24). The disciples fishing by the Sea of Tiberias fail to recognise him too (John 21). Thomas wanted to see his nail marks and put his hand into his side (John 20). Finally, when Jesus appeared among his disciples, they initially thought he was a ghost (Luke 24). Why would the disciples fail to recognise their master?

The gospels provide a few indicators. Still reeling from the magnitude and the shock of the Holy Week events, the disciples were so overwhelmed with fear and shock that their perception was clouded. Their faith has been shaken, and their senses numbed. To those who had thought of Jesus as the long-awaited political messiah, the crucifixion proved to be an anticlimax. The One in whom they had placed all their trust is dead, and their grief-stricken spirits could not possibly comprehend the radicality of the resurrection.

The disciples’ difficulty in recognising the Risen Lord also serves a theological purpose: to show a discontinuity in the continuity between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It was still their Lord (as shown by his wounds), yet different (who can enter closed doors). The Easter revelation of the ‘new creation’ was still shrouded by the tragedy and violence of Good Friday.

Aren’t these challenges of the first disciples also our own? When sorrows and grief overwhelm us, trials and challenges dampen our spirits or the violence and injustice of Good Friday crush our hopes, don’t we too falter in our faith, hope, and ability to recognise the Risen Christ of Easter? When faced with the realities of death, suffering, and problems, aren’t we overcome by fears, hesitations, and doubts? Doesn't our perception become clouded when the harsh realities of everyday life shake us? Don’t our senses become numb when anxiety and uncertainty test our confidence, perseverance, and patience?

We too share the disciples’ plight. On days of darkness, mourning, and doubt, we too stand at the foot of the cross, lost and lonely, crying “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46). Strangely though, the failure of the disciples to recognise the Risen Christ seems to be an intentional part of divine providence. What seems to be the disciples’ failure in our eyes turns out to be a part of a greater ‘divine concealment plan’. As Luke explicitly states, the disciples’ eyes were ‘kept from recognising him’ (Luke 24:16).

What could God possibly intend for us in and through these ‘moments of incognizance’? The resurrection narratives show us that the Risen Christ takes his disciples through a formation process and accompanies them on their journey from ‘incognizance’ to ‘recognition’. This formation process involves three ingredients.

1. Memory and personal encounter:

The Risen Christ takes the initiative to meet his troubled disciples where they there. He helps them discern his presence by evoking their memory. He calls out Mary Magdalene by name so she can recognise that the mysterious gardener is indeed her ‘Rabboni’. In the miraculous fishing episode, he rekindles the memory of their first personal encounter (Luke 5:1-11). John recognises that it is indeed his ‘Lord’. The Risen Lord searches for his lost sheep and finds them by the tomb entrance, upper room, path to Emmaus, Sea of Tiberias, etc.,

2. The Word:

The formation process of recognising the Risen Lord’s identity is guided by faith and revelation, not mere sight (John 20:29). Jesus uses this formation process to reinterpret Scripture (Luke 24:27) and set the hearts of the Emmaus disciples ablaze.

3. Eucharist:

In Luke, the formation process of recognition attains its climax in the breaking of the bread. The eyes of the Emmaus disciples were opened when Jesus broke bread. Jesus prepares breakfast for his disciples at sea. When he appears in the closed room, he eats with them. This helped them become ‘the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead’ (first reading).

This Easter, the Risen Christ invites us to this three-fold formation process to help us recognise him in the most difficult moments of our daily life realities. He rekindles our memories of walking with him. He calls us by our names. He walks with us in our moments of disillusionment and despair. He comes to find us where we are. He inspires us through the Scriptures so we can recognise him in his ‘alive and active’ Word. He continues to break bread with us in the Eucharist to open our eyes and recognise him as our ‘Rabboni’ and ‘Lord’.