Today’s Gospel and the other Easter gospels we have been hearing contradict the claims of those who argue that there is no diversity in the Canonical Gospels. Quite to the contrary! What we see in today’s Gospel reading is yet further evidence that Resurrection was not a simple fact at all but rather an extremely complex and perplexing matter. That is why each of the four Canonical Gospels contains several and in some ways differing accounts of the Resurrection. Whereas the accounts of the crucifixion in each gospel are more or less the same with minor variations of detail when it comes to the Resurrection it is a different story. What I find so impressive and indeed authentic about the gospel Resurrection narratives is that all versions with all their diversity of detail are included giving us a real sense of the diversity of experience of those first witnesses. The Resurrection was not simply a series of verifiable facts experienced in a similar way by a variety of people but rather it was a series of experiences and encounters by numbers of people in differing ways.

Having heard the accounts of Resurrection from Mark’s and John’s Gospels these past two Sundays today we heard part of Luke’s resurrection narrative. The Mark account highlighted the fear and alarm of the women as they fled from the empty tomb where the angel had told them that Jesus was risen. Last Sunday’s gospel from John focused on Thomas and his doubting the accounts of the resurrection. Today’s account picks up the language of both and tells of a pretty confused group of the disciples who to put it mildly seem all over the place! But to do justice to Luke we need to put the gospel passage we heard in its proper context. For this passage is part 3 of Luke’s resurrection narrative. First he tells of the women at the tomb; then he includes the memorable account of the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus; and finally he tells today’s passage concerning Jesus’ appearance to the gathered disciples in Jerusalem. So today’s gospel begins with the Emmaus disciples telling their story. It is at that point that Jesus stood among them. How? We are not told. But he greets them with the traditional Shalom, Peace be with you. Once again like in Mark’s account on which I preached on Easter Day the response of the disciples is one of fear, amazement and terror. They even think they have seen a ghost. Jesus responds “Why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Fear and doubt do not seem to us as the obvious reactions to the Resurrection. Nor does one feel that such reactions are evidence of a heavily expurgated, controlled text, one with all the difficult and nasty bits removed. No these texts have the smack of authenticity and integrity about them because we are given the reactions of the disciples “warts and all” as we say.

Elaine Farmer spoke eloquently about the place of doubt in the process of faith last Sunday; of doubt often being the seedbed of faith. On Easter Day I addressed the fear and terror in these passages. What I said then and reiterate now is that these responses highlight the fact that what is taking place here is something of entirely a new order, something quite outside human experience, something beyond human rationality. The fact as proclaimed again and again by Peter in the first preaching of the church was that “God raised Jesus from the dead”. This was no human deed but a divine action to which the only response was one of wonder, awe, fear and terror. This divine dimension is highlighted in all the gospel accounts in a variety of ways. But what all are saying is that the Resurrection of Jesus is God’s action and is an entirely New Thing.

The Risen Lord not only appears but he speaks. “ Peace be with you.” That simple word Peace sums up the Gospel of God. Peace; Reconciliation; Fulfilment; Completion; Integration. That is something we all long for within ourselves, our communities, our nation and our world. He continues “Look at my hands and my feet; see it is I myself.” These words and the dramatic action of showing his wounded hands and feet demonstrates that the Risen Jesus is the same Jesus who was Crucified. The Crucified and the Risen one are the same. Jesus’ recognizable identity continues into his risen self. In Luke’s account Jesus reiterates this issue of his risen identity. “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” And further “Have you anything here to eat?” “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.”

Here Luke by his focus on Jesus’ risen identity reflects the debates in the early church about the resurrection body. It is the same issue which Paul deals with at length in 1 Corinthians 15. Over against those in the early church like the Gnostics and the Docetists who wished to “disembody the Risen Christ”, to make him simply a spiritual not a physical phenomenon, orthodox Christianity was at pains to say that the Resurrection of Jesus was more than a spiritual matter but that it encompassed the total human reality, body, mind and spirit. What is clear from today’s gospel and from the other gospels is that the Risen Christ is the same but different. If you like he has been transfigured into a new reality, a new creation. This new reality includes all we are and more. Paul concludes his discussion of the Resurrection body and its implications for our bodies with those grand words “We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.”

But the Risen Lord in Luke’s gospel account has more to say to the gathered disciples. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you” and proceeds to reiterate the Passion predictions. “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures”. This is what the Risen Christ had done with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. Remember their response after Jesus revealed himself in the breaking of the bread: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” Here in Luke the Risen Christ emphasizes that the Resurrection is not some isolated event but is entirely consistent with the Hebrew scriptures of Moses and the prophets. Resurrection is part of God’s plan from the beginning; it is the fulfillment of all that has gone before. God’s Saving Activity is all of one piece.

But last but by no means least this Resurrection account of Luke is the bridge to the Acts of the Apostles which is Luke, Book 2 if you like. So the Risen Christ further addresses what lies ahead. Building on the Passion predictions he says: “thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Not only is the Resurrection the fulfillment of all that has gone before but it is the springboard for the Mission of the church. It is the Mission of the Church to the whole world which is the consequence of the Resurrection. Even Mark’s bald account of the resurrection has the hint of this in the angel’s words to the women that the risen Lord goes before you to Galilee. As I said on Easter Day the journey of faith continues to new, broader horizons in company with the Risen Christ. Here Luke takes us one step further and links us into the events of Pentecost and to the life of the early church. For in the very next verse in Luke’s gospel curiously omitted from today’s gospel reading Jesus says: “and see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” It is the Spirit of the Risen Christ who accompanies us as we seek to live out the Resurrection in promoting its Peace, Joy and Love to the world.   Amen

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