THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
Saint Luke 24, 35-48

Immediately after the scene of the disciples of Emmaus, which we read last Sunday, today we hear the first appearance of the Risen One to the group of his disciples.

Their reaction is fright, fear, disbelief: they thought they saw a ghost. Jesus assures them that he is not a ghost and shows them his hands and feet with the wounds of passion still visible: «it is me in person … a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have». For further demonstration, he asks for something to eat, and they offer him a piece of roast fish, which he eats in front of them.

Jesus then gives them a catechesis, like the one he had given to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He opens their understanding to understand the Scriptures: what Moses and the prophets and the psalms had announced about him was being fully fulfilled.

Reflection

The new life that Christ wants to communicate to us means, in practice, that Christians must avoid sin. In his letter, Juan says what is the purpose of his writing: «I write this to you so that you do not sin.» Because although it is true that those baptized into Christ Jesus «have been born of God,» it is also true that they remain weak and vulnerable.

Jesus himself, presenting to his disciples the fulfillment of the OT in his death and resurrection, adds that «in his name the conversion and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all peoples.» The celebration of Easter, for Christians, is to live in light, in love, in truth.

The experience of the encounter with the Risen One – especially in the Eucharist – should change something in our lives, as it did with the two of Emmaus or with the other apostles and disciples. He must clearly send us on a «mission», to bear witness to our faith in life.

Now Christians and communities like that are also needed. We have not heard the Good News through the mouth of angels, but through the witness of the Church. No one is born a Christian: the dynamic of the «new evangelization» is continually underway, on the part of the ecclesial community, in particular by Christian families and schools.

Credible witnesses of Christ are Christians who love each other and promote peace and justice, who strive to help all, in an attitude of service, in the midst of a selfish world. He already told us: «by this they will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another.»

Fr. Antony Majeesh George Kallely, OFM