Gospel: Witnesses to the Risen Jesus

Today is the Third Sunday of Easter and the Gospel passage will be lifted from the account of St Luke (24:35-48).

Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognized him with the breaking of the bread.

They were still talking about all this when he himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you!"

In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost.

But he said, "Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts stirring in your hearts? See by my hands and by my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have."

And as he said this he showed them his hands and his feet.

Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, as they were dumbfounded; so he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.

Then he told them, "This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled."

He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, "So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses to this."

On the third Sunday of Easter, we continue to hear Gospel accounts of Jesus' appearances to his disciples following his Resurrection. Today's reading, taken from the Gospel of St Luke, follows immediately after the report of Jesus' appearance to his disciples on the road to Emmaus. This is the event being recounted by the disciples in the opening verse of today's Gospel.

Consistently in the reports of Jesus' post-Resurrection appearances, Jesus greets his disciples with the words, Peace be with you!" This is the most appropriate greeting. The disciples have witnessed the death of someone they loved, and they now fear for their own lives as well. Peace is what they need more than anything else. Jesus often connects this greeting of peace with another gift - forgiveness. In today's Gospel, this connection is made in the final verses.

Even as they hear Jesus' greeting of peace, the disciples are startled and terrified. They are uncertain about what to make of the figure before them, and quite understandably, they mistake Jesus for a ghost. Yet, the figure before them is not a ghost; Jesus invites them to experience his resurrected body with their senses, to look and to touch. The figure before them is flesh and bone, still bearing the marks of crucifixion. Although the disciples cannot forget his suffering and death, peace begibs to take root in their hearts, as their fears turn to joy and excitement.

As proof of his identity and his resurrected body, Jesus eats with his disciples. The disciples have known Jesus best through the meals he has shared with them. Descriptions of these meals are a defining element of St Luke's Gospel. By eating with his disciples after his Resurrection, Jesus recalls all these meals, and more importantly, he recalls the Last Supper.

St Luke's report of the Last Supper and the meals Jesus shared after his Resurrection unveil for us the significance of the Eucharist. Having shared a meal with his disciples, Jesus now uncovers for them the importance of what was written about him in the Scriptures. So, too, our celebration of the Mass is an encounter with Jesus, through the Word and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As Jesus commissions his disciples to be witnesses to what the Scriptures foretold, our celebration of the Eucharist, in turn, commissions us. Like the disciples, we are sent to announce the good news of Jesus' firgiveness of sins.

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