Thursday in the Octave of Easter
When the disciples encounter Jesus in the reading from Luke today, they don’t know at first what to make of him. Is he a ghost? Are they hallucinating? Is he for real? Jesus sees their fear and their doubt. But instead of chastising them for a less-than-faithful response, he tells them to check him out. He invites them to touch him—touch his very real body. He is not an apparition. He is the truly resurrected Christ.
Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be with the disciples just then? To have seen the resurrected Jesus in the flesh? You would never have another moment of doubt in your whole life! You could know for certain that beyond this life is another—with Jesus.
Of course, we don’t get to choose where or when we are born. And so, as people of the 21st century, we don’t get to have the kind of certainty that the disciples had. Instead, we are called to faith in the resurrected Jesus who is with God the Father, who sent us the Holy Spirit, and who is with us now.
Having this faith can be a real challenge. Especially in moments like this one in which there is too much pain, too much suffering, too much death, and too much that is unknown. And for what? A virus. In times like these, we may find ourselves asking—where is Jesus? We may be saying to ourselves—I can’t see Jesus.
For Easter, our family decided that rather than cook our own special Easter brunch, we would instead support one of our favorite local restaurants—Lily’s in the Oregon District. We placed our order online a few days in advance and let them know that we would be among the first to show up at the restaurant—at 11:30 AM—on Sunday to receive our delicious brunch. When we arrived in the parking lot behind the restaurant, we were stunned. We thought we’d be the first ones there. It wasn’t even 11:30 yet. Already there were five or so cars waiting with their hatchbacks up or their trunks open. The staff at Lily’s was working so hard to get people’s names so that they could bring out their orders. As we waited, we could smell (each time they opened the back door to the kitchen) the delicious food that was being prepared inside. In the half hour or so that we were there, more cars pulled up. More names to be taken, more food to bring out. By the time we left, there were at least a dozen cars waiting.
Why do I tell this story?
I think, sitting in that parking lot, I witnessed our resurrected Lord. I saw him in the people in the kitchen cooking (I can’t imagine how many) pounds of crazy good green beans. I saw him in the guy who ran from car to car in order to figure out who was in them and, thus, which order should be brought to them. I saw him in the woman (Emily is her name) who runs Lily’s and who came out with order after order. And she had the biggest smile on her face as she greeted one after another familiar customer. So many she knew by name. And I saw him in the young man (another worker at Lily’s) who ran back and forth—from kitchen to parking lot—to bring us all delicious food. And he smiled at us.
On this day, just four days after Easter, my prayer is that you will think about—maybe even write about and share—all the ways in which you are witnessing our resurrected Lord today.
Amen.
- Sue Trollinger