Thursday within the Octave of Easter
Most of us have grown up hearing the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. We’ve known about, if not celebrated, many, many Easters in our lifetime. Sometimes it might seem almost ordinary, and maybe not amazing. Perhaps we’ve become accustomed to the idea of God becoming human, taking on flesh, being crucified, buried, and then rising from the dead, rising out of the tomb on the third day. It may seem almost commonplace to us.
My eyes were opened a little more when I first had to explain and answer questions about Jesus’ death and resurrection to our children when they were old enough to have some understanding of death. Seeing things through the eyes of a child sometimes helps us see it as if for the first time.
The disciples did not have the benefit of the resurrection story being passed on to them since childhood. They were part of the story; they were living it and trying to make sense out of what had happened over the past week as Jesus, the one they were coming to know as their Messiah, was arrested, killed and buried, and now was appearing to some of the disciples as the risen Christ. What were they to make of all this?
Like a child experiencing autumn for the first time in their awareness, noticing the leaves on the trees dying and falling off, the flowers wilting, the grass fading, what if they didn’t have an adult to explain to them and reassure them that after Winter, Spring will come and new leaves will grow on the trees, the plants and flowers will come up out of the ground and bloom again, the grass will be green?
In today’s gospel reading (Luke 24: 35-48), Jesus appears to the disciples (they are startled and afraid) and he reassures them, shows them that it is really he, and he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. They finally begin to understand all that had happened and how the prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus.
Spring has sprung; Jesus has risen.
He points out to them, “You are witnesses of these things.” And now they have the responsibility of spreading the news, passing on the story, the same story that we grew up hearing and that we are passing on to the next generation.
In today’s first reading (Acts 3: 11-26), Peter and John, who healed a crippled man in Jesus’ name, are spreading the news and explaining Jesus’ resurrection and all that has happened to those gathered at the temple. They are passing on the story and continuing to live the story.
Let us do the same. Not just sharing the story, but living it in Jesus’ name.
Eileen Miller