SCRIPTURE
- Luke 24:36b-48
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”[a] 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.[b] 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
PREPARE THE PEOPLE
This story is everything incarnate - embodied, fleshy and very, very new. For the disciples and for Jesus.
It oozes everything Easter. Things that resurrect and bring new life. Exciting adventures, new jobs, easter dresses and fresh flowers.
We learned that FEELING Jesus’ spirit sustains our faith. This week, Jesus has something else to teach us. Around the same time that Thomas had questions the disciples were still stuck in the upper room. This time Jesus appeared and stood among them. He showed the disciples his hands, his feet and then he did the most human thing of all. He asked for food, because he was hungry.
There is a biblical principle of ImAgo Dei (day)- which means the image of God. The term has its roots in Genesis 1:27 “God created man in his own image…” This creation story reminds us that we are made in the image of God in our moral, spiritual and intellectual nature, and when Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, post resurrection- he mirrors both God’s divinity in raising from the dead AND our simple humanity in his hunger. In essence when Jesus holds his hands out - it is an invitation to hold our hands out. When he shows us his feet, there is an invitation to mirror that action. In mirroring Jesus, we demonstrate Imago Dei in ourselves, and we are invited to see it in each other.
This image of the fully human and fully divine Jesus who first speaks words of peace in the upper room is haunting in light of the recent uptick of gun violence in our country since the onset of 2021. Jesus was all done with violence and violent acts and insurrectionists and the fighting happening in Jerusalem. He was done.
While this year has brought its own Easters with the decline of covid cases and the reopening of the country, we have also seen the spike of gun violence towards our black and brown siblings and the increase of mass shootings in public places. When I look to our bible and our Christain tradition it is very clear that we are supposed to create non-violent communities. Communities of ImAgo Dei. After Jesus had experienced a violent death he showed us what it means to surrender in peace with the expectation that we surrender back in peace. The image is haunting as he metaphorically unarms himself in vulnerability. This will not change our culture of gun violence in this country. But it is an image we must carry with us as inspiration to endow a different kind of community. We can all unarm ourselves in vulnerability and say I come now in peace. The light in me honors the light in you, no exceptions.
Our progressive Christian movement calls us to a moral imagination for community and relationship with God and each other. We engage moral imagination by caring for each other and being in relationship with each other and that is powerful. When we come together in this way, there is power that will transform us and our community.
This story is one part invitation, one part radical hospitality and one part acknowledgment. Jesus first introduces himself and then he takes care of himself and then they get to work. Sometimes, simply the acknowledgement shifts the energy around how we behave.
Most of us are weary. Bone exhausted after this year. But, my friends, first we must nourish our own hearts, minds and souls before we begin the work of Jesus. We must ask ourselves, what am I hungry for?
Mandy: what are you hungry for?
I’m hungry for good news. To open up my news app and to read about real change in our nation and in our world - common sense gun regulations, access to healthcare for all, a redistribution of wealth. Good news that will change the narrative of scarcity to one of abundance.
Marta: what are you hungry for?
I am hungry for the expanse of time. Long hours of nothingness. I am hungry for uninterrupted rest and if I am really honest- a tropical beach.