The living presence of Jesus-True or False?

Readings for Easter 3 22nd April,2012.  Psalm4, Acts 3:12-20; 1 John 2:15-17, 3:1-6; Luke 24:36-48

There are perhaps two ways we can approach the resurrection stories:
One extreme is that we see them as symbolical narratives of great spiritual truth,
that way we don’t have to worry about whether the nature of the events is factual
we take them for their symbolical value
The other is that we just take at face value 

what we may have always been told
and again, don’t have to think much 

about what we are encountering.
Last week’s Gospel reminds us that 

we should do more than just park our brains
We have to grapple with inconsistency and doubt.
Luke, though, is at pains to point out
the physical truth of the experience.
This passage we read tells usThis is not a ghost!
This is a fleshly body. 

you can touch,
which consumes food.
It is the resurrected body of Jesus.

THE MIDDLE WAY

Death inevitably confuses us. 

This death, no less than others, has its degree of confusion
We, ourselves, are invited to steer the middle way

and to try to understand
what it is about.
We see Peter, for example, and the other disciples having to grapple
as they come to understand
that the death of Jesus has fundamentally changed their lives
Death, of course, does that.
We are not to look at it only symbolically 

or to disregard our doubts
but rather to struggle with what it means to believe.

Peter gets to the conclusion
that this resurrection has made the
power of Jesus
available through his disciples
and not just through the body of Jesus.

We are invited in Easter 

to grapple with the life of Jesus.

How and why is Jesus alive for you and me?
And what are we to do with that.

This week:
Pray for insight and faith to believe aright
Pray for faith to grow in the resurrection
Pray for courage and insight about how to use that power

   Lord of Easter,

   show me your living presence this and every day.
   Grant me grace to know how to live

   in the power of your resurrection