In a moment we will read to the set reading for today But first I want you to imagine how it would feel for those first disciples – 2,000 years ago – in Palestine.

You are Jewish.  You have studied the Hebrew Scriptures – the story of your people through the ages – the story of their relationship with their God.  And of course this story is also your story – an integral part of your life.

For three years you have followed a new Jewish teacher – a rabbi – one who has stood out from the rest.  He spoke with authority, he challenged bad practices and unfair systems – he preached justice and peace and a new way of living.  And he did this not just with words but by the way he lived and loved among them.  No-one met him and remained the same.  He touched and changed people – bodies, minds and hearts.

You thought he might be the Messiah – one who would free your people from the oppression of the Romans – this was the one your people had been waiting for – but then – it had all ended in tears – he had been cruelly killed as a common criminal.  It was all over.  And you were left confused, disillusioned, hurt, sad and indeed frightened ……. would the mob come for you next …?

And then suddenly Jesus was seen again – by the women at the tomb – by the disciples on the Emmaus Road – and in an Upper Room where you were hiding fearful and afraid…..

Luke 24:36b-48

 suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost.

 But he said to them, "Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds?

Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones, as you can see I have."

He said this and showed them his hands and his feet.

They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"

They gave him a piece of cooked fish,

which he took and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, "These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true."

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

and said to them, "This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later,

and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.

The ancient world knew all about ghosts, visions, apparitions and spooks.  Ancient literature has plenty of people being found alive after being supposed dead, plenty of spirits of the dead returning to haunt, spy on, or chat with the living.  Jesus disciples could so easily have used such categories to explain their extra-ordinary experiences of the presence of the risen Jesus.

That they didn’t do that is a powerful testimony to our resurrection faith.

Because here we have a Jesus who could be touched and could eat cooked fish.  But also a Jesus who appeared through locked doors, who disappeared after breaking bread at Emmaus and who finally withdraws into God’s heavenly dimension (however we understand that).  Here we have a Jesus who does indeed seem to have both human and otherworldly attributes.

The disciples were confronted with a new form of reality, for which they were unprepared, but for which the language of resurrection (not of ghosts or resuscitations) was available.  It seemed that Jesus physical body was now inhabiting both our space (earth) and God’s space (which we often call heaven). Perhaps we can call this an ‘Easter mode of being’.  A model for the future of Christians, and the source of power for life, in the present.  The disciples struggled with this new concept and again and again we read that they needed to read the Scriptures with ‘new eyes’ and to have open minds and open hearts.  They needed eyes and hearts and minds of faith – because here indeed we are dealing with mystery.

Consider that Easter humanity is, in fact, genuine humanity – not an escape into a ‘better’ place – but an awareness and experience of God (in the risen Christ) being with us now in the messiness of our human lives.

On the morning of the resurrection, God put life in the present tense not in the future.  God gave us not just a promise but a presence.  Not just a hope for the future but a power for the present.  Not simply the assurance that we shall live beyond the grave but that he is risen today – a power and a resource for our life here and now. 

But how do we know this is true?

Of course we cannot know beyond doubt.  Because in the end to believe or not is a faith matter.  The decision to believe always involves an act of faith as does the decision not to believe. Even an atheist has to have faith - faith in his belief that there is no God.

Doubt is part of faith.

· Remember that for 2,000 years – although many have tried – no-one has disproved it.

· Reread the stories of Jesus in the Gospels – his life not just his death and resurrection.  And use a modern translation.

· Consider the stories of the early church which we find in Acts.

· Find out about the history of the Christian Church – I challenge anyone to study this and not be overwhelmed by a great sense of affirmation and indeed humility.

But in the end I can only tell you of my own experience of a living Christ.

The God that I know in Jesus sustains me not just when things are going well – but also when things go very wrong. 

The God that I know in Jesus is already at work out there in the world – and calls us to work with him to bring new life and fresh hope to those places and to those people who need it so much.

This is the Good News of our faith.

This is what we want to share with others.

Resurrection is not something to wait for – it is something to live and work within.

The story is not all over.  The story still goes on.  And we are part of it.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.