While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 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.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then 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, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “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. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:36-48 NRSV)

***

"The disciples were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit."

Jesus was not a ghost,
the disciples didn't see a spirit but,
rather,
they saw a living human being.
Jesus said, "Why are you troubled? Why do questionings arise in your hearts?
See my hands and my feet,
it is I . . . myself.
Handle me and see;
for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have."

And, still, the disciples didn't believe
until they saw Jesus eat a broiled fish.

Why do we believe?
These disciples are, after all, not so different from us.
We so very much need to see to believe.
Indeed, as the Gospel of St. John tells us,
St. Thomas, the apostle, also needed to see
and to touch
to believe.

We require much evidence
to know and believe the truth about every day things
Why do we believe the Resurrection?
Why do we believe in Jesus Christ?
These disciples demanded physical evidence,
and our Lord showed them himself.
St. Thomas, too, demanded to see
the holes in our Lord’s hands
and the hole in his side,
and in St. Luke's account, Jesus displays even these.

And, still to this day, doubting Thomases are everywhere.
They demand evidence for everything--
even for the most glorious miracle ever worked by God:
the Resurrection of Jesus, the defeat of death.

The people out there, in the world,
demand evidence.
And we have evidence.
More evidence than they, or we, will ever need.

The disciples in St. Luke's account
demanded to see that Jesus was real,
to handle his flesh,
and to watch him eat.
People demand much the same kind of evidence.
They demand to see the risen Lord and Savior.
It is our duty, my brothers and sisters, to show them that body.

Would you pray with me?

Lord God, our heavenly Father, move among us so that we, Thy people, may always feel and sense Thy divine power and presence; for we need to know that we are never alone. And speak to each and every one of us in such a way that we may hear, understand, and remember, give us words by which to mold and shape our living; for, we confess to You that we need such words by which to live. For we pray in Thy holy and gracious name. Amen.

Where is the Body of Jesus?
Where is the Body of Christ?
They, out there, demand to see
a living body,
a living savior,
a living God,
in order to believe.
Where is the body?

Trying to be a witness to that body,
especially when we don't know quite where to point
in this day and age,
is often very difficult.
I know.
I have tried, for years, to be just such a witness,
and I have not always been successful.

I have a very dear, close friend--
we met when I was in collage at SMU, in Dallas,
and he is currently in medical school in Houston.

Bill is a special person.
He's bright and intelligent,
He's kind and thoughtful,
He truly cares about and for those around him.
He is a good and wise human being.
He was raised by a special Christian mother and Grandmother.
His personal and profession ethics are impeccable.
He is every parent's dream-son..... except . . .
Bill has no enduring faith.

I have struggled with him,
I have witnessed to him,
I have tried to be the disciple God has called me to be in Bill's presence.
And all my efforts,
all my conversations,
all my attempts to convince Bill of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
have come up short.

Now, that's not to say that Bill hasn’t grown over the past years,
and the Lord only knows what will one-day grow forth from his spirit.
The seed's God has given me to plant,
but to this day Bill is an excellent example of a doubting Thomas.
He lives a life which,
on the outside,
is fully Christian in behavior,
but on the inside he is walking in darkness,
and there is no light.
He lives a good life
because that was how he was brought up.
He goes to Sunday School and Church every Sunday,
and provides for the ministry of the Church
through his gifts,
but it is more a learned behavior than a spiritually empowered one.
And being Christian is more than just learning how to behave.
Indeed, without faith
Bill's actions may be Christian in appearance,
Bill’s behaviors might be moral, ethical, and respectful
Bill’s life may be fruitful and meaningful to hundreds or thousands,
as God uses him and his mind and heart to serve the medical needs of others,
But Bill is not a Christian;
My best friend does not know the Lord
. . . at least, not yet.

Bill demands hard evidence.
Bill demands proof of the Resurrection.
Bill demands proof that God exists.
And all of these demands can be met,
evidences are available,
and sooner or later God will open Bill's eyes to the truth.
But, in point of fact,
even this will not make Bill a Christian.
One's state as being a disciple of the Lord
does not rest on behavior or intellectual belief alone.
What one knows
and how one behaves does not save.
Who one knows
what one believes and how one acts in faith ...
that is what saves.
And only the first one
ultimately matters.

Intellectual knowledge
flows from personal acquaintance,
faith is active belief in the one died for us, and
right action is a response to God’s grace of justification ...
Bill's Christian behavior will not save him.

When Bill comes to believe
that simple, passive belief won’t save him.
When his belief comes alive, by God’s grace, in active faith,
faith that isn’t passive, but faith that is trusting and transforming
rooted a personal relationship with Jesus Christ ...
then Bill will be saved.

The same is true for each and every one of us.
We must know Jesus Christ as crucified and risen Lord and Savior,
before we can properly believe in him
and before we can respond in active, living faith.
We must know Jesus.

The world demands a body.
We've got something better.
We've got the presence of the Living Lord to display.
Where is the Body of Jesus?
Where is the Body of Christ?
Where is the Body of the one who died and was raised for us?
It's not in a hole in the ground, over in Israel.
It has not decayed away to dust, never to be found.
His Body is right here.
Jesus is really present, here, today.
He is risen, and is among us,
and is within us.
He is present in the Scripture,
in our praying,
in our worship together,
in our fellowship,
in our studies
in our service
in our remembrance of baptism
and in the table of the Lord,
the bread and the wine
the elements of his eternal presence.
Jesus is really here.

To those who know Him, Christ Jesus has given life eternal,
To those who know Him, Christ's presence is always within them.
Christ is here,
In You
In Me
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
empowered by God’s Grace,
active by faith.

As I close, would you please stand
and take the hand of the person standing next to you?
Now, look around.
Where is the Body of Christ?

You're looking at it.
Christ is risen from the dead, and is here within us.
We are the body of Christ,
Which the Lord as given for the world to see.
The Holy Spirit has made us so.
And we have all been called, to proclaim this witness
until the end of time, when we will see the Lord,
face to face.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
--Amen