Friday within the Octave of Easter
April 25, 2014 8:30am
Today’s gospel story is one of
several times when the risen Christ has a meal, actually eats with his
disciples.
One of the things that today’s
story and the others tell us is that the risen Jesus had a body.
This was not just a ghost or a
spirit.
There was some kind of body here.
It must have been different and
he must have looked different.
After all, Mary Magdalene did not
recognize him at the tomb until he spoke her name and the two disciples on the
road to Emmaus did not recognize him until he broke the bread with them.
So Jesus must have had a
transformed body – often called a glorified body.
His body as part of his earthly
self was made new in some way.
We believe that this will also be
true for us.
In the Apostles’ Creed, we say we
believe “in the resurrection of the
body.”
We do not understand this and how
it will be, but it is part of our belief in personal resurrection.
There is one other brief point I
want to note.
In these resurrection meals, the
risen Lord is always with groups of disciples.
And what that is saying is that
the Eucharist is not simply a matter of God and me being joined together.
It is God and we joined together.
Eating in the gospels is never a
matter of going off by myself with a snack tray in front of the TV.
Eating in the gospels is what it
has traditionally been in most cultures: a social time, a time to be together.
And what this conveys about the
Eucharist is that this sacrament is meant to bring us together.
We, many though we are, are one
by eating the one bread, Saint Paul says.
So the Eucharist makes us one.
And, in turn, we are to find
Jesus alive both with and through others.
