Jesus appears before His disciples in Jerusalem

Our Sunday gospel today comes from Luke 24:35-48 when our Lord Jesus Christ appears before his Disciples in Jerusalem, which begins right after the meeting with his disciples on the Road to Emmaus.

“The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”

40 And as he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything to eat? 42 They gave him a piece of baked fish; 43 he took it and ate it in front of them. 44 He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.”

There is no question that the disciples of Jesus are still very much bewildered or even in a state of shock that their Master whom they have personally witnessed once raised the dead Lazarus or that little girl had himself conquered death three days after his brutal crucifixion and death on the cross. They probably saw him being carried inside the tomb and the stone door rolled into place and guarded by Roman soldiers. Then three days later, the news came… that Jesus had risen from the dead because of the empty tomb. But those stories came from Mary of Magdala, Peter and John.

While most of the disciples believed that Peter and John saw the empty tomb, they were still skeptical… until he appeared before the other disciples. One such dramatic appearance was in the upper room when our Lord appeared before St. Thomas Didymus the big skeptic amongst them and in seeing Jesus, Thomas dropped on his knees proclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” But this Sunday’s gospel tells us that even with the appearance of Jesus before Thomas, there were still many skeptics amongst his disciples.

One thing very unique about the Glorified Christ is whenever he appears before his disciples; his greeting was always...”Peace be with you.” Actually, this was one of his teachings when he tasked his disciples on their mission to evangelize the good news… by offering words of peace and that if they do not welcome you… you can take your peace back with you.

What is very clear in today’s gospel is that whenever Jesus appears before his disciples, they are always troubled… perhaps their eyes deceive them thinking that Jesus is a ghost. So Jesus goes out of his way to show his disciples his wounds, asking them to touch them. Certainly, St. Thomas was not alone in his skepticism and our Lord Jesus wanted to oblige his disciples to reassure them that all this was for real… that it was really happening.

To add to the strange happenings around them, the Lord asked if they had anything to eat. Now either Jesus was really hungry or he was trying to demonstrate to them that a glorified body would still need nourishment. Now didn’t Jesus tell Nicodemus in John 3: 7b-15 “Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony, If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

So once more Jesus reminds them with these words, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”

Indeed, the Resurrected Christ is living proof that the scriptures as written by the Prophets in the Old Testament from Moses to Isaiah has been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus in what later would be known as the New Testament and that the disciples would be tasked to evangelize all the things that have passed as they are witnesses to these events.

Today, all Catholics are also called to spread the Good News that Jesus has given to the human race. But two thousand years later, Catholics are having trouble keeping up with their faith. All that the Lord Jesus Christ needs from us is our child-like faith. Do you have a child-like faith? Many theologians who know so much about God have unfortunately lost their child like faith. Salvation comes to those who believe with the faith of a child.

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