Thursday, April 9, 2015

9 April 2015 - no hungry ghost


“Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?

Why are we troubled, Jesus? We saw you die. You were taken from us. You seem to still be with us in some sense, but how can it be the same as before? How can you ever be as real again? Your death is shocking. It's reality is undeniable. You must be something like a ghost now. You must be a vague and ethereal presence. Or maybe you are an inspirational idea. But surely you can't be a person to whom we can know intimacy. Death divides and we know it. That is just how things are. Or is it?

The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.

You explain it to us. You are the one death cannot hold. You use the power of your word to show us.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name

Our minds are closed and troubled and questions arise. But you speak to us. You open our minds to understand. You show us that your death was part of the plan, and that things have been under control all along. You yourself are the "author of life". When you die it means something different from any other death. It opens the way to repentance, conversion, times of refreshment, and even times of universal restoration.

As a consequence you are not distant from us. You are neither ghost nor idea. You are real and in our midst. You have real power to change and to heal us.

“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?

It is you who act here, LORD, in the mighty deeds of your Church. It is you who speak when the Scriptures are proclaimed. But to convince us you are real you want us to experience your presence in the ordinary and everyday moments of life.

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish; 
he took it and ate it in front of them.

You want to share our meals and our lives. You want to be around us even when we aren't desperate. You want to be more the special effects and emergency services of our lives. You want to be present here and now. Now matter how mundane or boring things seem you want to share them with us. Though, in truth, with you nothing is dry or lifeless. 

O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?

LORD, your name is glorious indeed. Faith in this name is the only true source of strength, the source of the refreshment for which we long.

And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.

Make yourself known to us, today, Jesus. Speak our names in the extraordinary but also in the ordinary. Speak our names so that we may in turn call out to you.

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