Thursday in the Octave of Easter, April 24, 2025
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Simple
Jesus stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
It’s not Jesus’ problem that the disciples were “startled and terrified, and thought they were seeing a ghost.” He had prepared them well. But in his mercy, Jesus felt compassion for these plain and simple folks, people he found along the roadside and on the seashore who simply said “YES” when he simply said to them, “Follow me.”
Why are you troubled? Why do questions arise in your hearts? Touch me. A ghost does not have flesh and bones. He took a piece of baked fish and ate it in front of them.
And his friends were incredulous with joy!
Walter Watts has been my friend from the 1990s at Christian Campus House in Urbana, a member of ROTC and our leadership team while I was a campus minister there. Over the decades he has become a “Business Intelligence Manager.” When I read today’s description of Jesus’ appearing in the midst of his friends, I thought of what Walter wrote and shared via Linkedin on Easter.
Today we celebrate something that is both religious and secular, something natural and supernatural, but in all cases it is something wonderful. Whether you celebrate Passover or Easter, whether you enjoy the great outdoors or are happy that baseball is back, this week is special to you.
More that anything else, this time of year reminds us that, more than anything else, we need hope. And though nobody knows what the future holds, hope is real.
You don’t have to be a religious person to see it: people overcoming dire health issues, organizations coming out of decline to experience success again, relationships being restored. In these days, as the grey fields turn green and the leaves return to the trees, we should remember this. Today, take the time to celebrate and embrace hope.
Walter acknowledged there is much tempting us to turn away from hope. He gives examples, and no doubt each of us has his own. But he assumes the best. This “bias” is always available. Living like this opens my eyes and ears so I can develop a perspective that broadens possibilities without pretense.
Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.
What they heard before he was killed, now they heard again with ears far more open. Those men who had no hope felt their hearts open wide. And Jesus knew what they could do as their hope was restored.
Now repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, will be preached in Christ’s name to all the nations beginning with Jerusalem, and you, yes you! You are witnesses of these things.
Henri Nouwen describes the change happening in these plain folks, men and women just like us:
The resurrection of Jesus simplifies everything. Life is so complex. There are so, so many memories, so many events, so many possibilities. There are people to pay attention to, events to reflect on, choices to ponder. And there is the ongoing question of priorities: who to respond to first, what to consider first, where to go first…. But here, before the rolled-away stone, a simple center from which hope radiates, all is very simple. I sense the deep truth of this simplicity. Jesus is risen. All has become one.
As the TV guy for Cubs baseball shouts when they win, “Sing the song!”
Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Oh, Lord, we praise your name! Oh, Lord, we magnify your name!
(Acts 3, Psalm 8, Psalm 118, Luke 24)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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