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Friends,
We are in the Post-Resurrection Eastertide, the 50-day period spanning from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. Jesus will make a number of appearances between now and his Ascension. All those appearances will be to believers, unlike the pre-Resurrection Jesus who appeared to believers, skeptics, and disbelievers alike.
The pre-Resurrection Jesus did miracles, mostly healing or feeding of people, but rarely violated the laws of nature or physics, notable exceptions calming a storm and walking on water. These actions put God’s power on full display.
After his resurrection though, Jesus seems to change the rules. He comes when he wants to, he leaves when he wants to, and locked doors are no issue. His sudden appearances and disappearances remind me of the Transport from the original Star Trek. Oh, and no one asks him who he is.
The post-Resurrection Jesus in the Gospel of John is recognized by his scars/wounds. I believe Jesus’ resurrected body is whole and healed, even with the scars; they are marks of Good Friday, a reminder to all, Jesus included what he bore, but not a hinderance to his post-Resurrection life. The presence of the scars/wounds on his hands, feet, and side, leads me to wonder if he also has the marks of his flogging and the crown of thorns. I hope this is not the case. The scars/wounds on his hands, feet, and side are enough. They are the testimony that he is the one who was crucified, died and rose again.
Jesus’ resurrection does not reset the story or erase the past. Instead, it promises life out of death; it’s shows us that earthly suffering is not the final word. Resurrection doesn’t just restore the body, it vindicates it.
The poem by Christine is a celebration of the strangeness and profound mystery of Jesus’s resurrection.
From: Faith in Grey Places
The strangest part
By Christine
Well,
To begin with was an earthquake and the tombs were broken open
And the bodies of the righteous who had died were then awoken,
And the curtain in the temple tore like heaven in a vision
And we wonder, was God saying he was breaking down division?
But the strangest part was at the tomb, for early Sunday morning
Came another violent earthquake and an angel without warning
And he rolled away the stone
To show the body—it was gone!
And the angel simply said
“He is risen from the dead.”
Then we started hearing stories, people said that they had seen him,
Heard his voice and held his hands, and they were sure that it had been him.
But a question still remained if one did not believe the women:
Who would steal a dead man’s corpse and choose to leave behind the linen?
Yes he sometimes walks through walls but then he has no trouble eating
And it’s still just as frustrating when his presence is so fleeting,
But his triumph is revealed
Within the scars that are now healed,
Hear the truth I have believed,
See the hope I have received.
Peace,
Rev. Tim
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