From Forward Day by Day
Luke 24:39 Jesus said, “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
Easter isn’t easy to comprehend. There are places in the scriptures, such as this one, where post-resurrection Jesus goes out of his way to prove that he is as real as you or I. Elsewhere, he invites Thomas to touch him. But then there are other places where Jesus forbids people from touching him after Easter. He appears inside a locked room and then disappears. On the road to Emmaus, he is not recognized. We can believe Jesus is raised from the dead, but we may not understand every nuance.
Perhaps the post-Easter Jesus isn’t so different from our own life of faith. We can believe that God works in our world and in our own lives, though we may not understand every nuance. At times, God might seem concretely real. Other times, God’s presence is elusive. If we have trouble sorting this out, we should be gentle with ourselves. Even Jesus’ followers, those who had witnessed many miracles and who had been taught by Jesus himself, sometimes had trouble recognizing him in their midst. Let us all seek Jesus, but let us do it patiently
