I do not normally associate humor with the Bible. But I cannot help but smile when I read the opening of our passage for Sunday. It is the end of Luke 24, Jesus appeared on the Road to Emmaus. Cleopas and his unnamed companion (Mary) have rushed back to Jerusalem to share the Good News.
They have seen Jesus, He revealed himself in the breaking of the bread. And our story begins.
Jesus is simply there. The movie version would certainly jazz it up a little, invest in some special effects. But there is little doubt it was the Jump Scare. The disciples were “startled and terrified”. But then, to be fair, in the light of the testimony of Cleopas and Mary, back from Emmaus; in light of the testimony of Simon, to whom Jesus had already appeared, they came to a logical and faithfully deduced conclusion-well, they came to a very human conclusion. Jesus was a ghost.
I might be reading into it some, but I see a play on words of Jesus being seen as a ghost and the Holy Ghost that the disciples shall receive on Pentecost.
Jesus replies, “Why are you frightened, and why
do doubts arise in your hearts?” Is it possible that this is polite Bible language for Jesus looking around and saying, essentially, "What is wrong with all of you?"
So Jesus attempts to use physical reality to change their minds. “Look at my hands
and my feet.” See, its me! Touch the places of the wounds and see. Ghosts do not have flesh and blood! I do!!” And they want to believe, but verse 41 tells us, “Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and
wondering…” Its like the words to that Buffalo Springfield song, “Paranoia strikes deep…into your life it will
creep…”
They are pleased, they are joyful, but…ghost. Luke doesn’t write it, but I can see Jesus rolling his eyes. But then we get an interesting lesson on the view of the paranormal in the time of Jesus. To disprove the accusation of 'ghost', visual evidence is not conclusive, nor is tactile evidence. Can't trust what you see, nor what you touch.
But apparently, there is a definitive way to show that you are not a ghost. For some reason, the solution seems so very Presbyterian to me. You have to eat something. That is definitive. Some cookies, a brownie, something? Turns out they had broiled fish on hand. Because apparently everybody knows that ghosts don't eat (???).
Superstitions are not new. This is not even the first time Jesus was thought to be a ghost. When he was walking on the water toward them on the Sea of Galilee, in the nighttime, under stormy conditions, white against the blackness surrounding him. Does not take much for me to admit that I probably would have thought 'ghost' as well.
Silly superstitions are not new either. What happens here is not a scene we might find in a horror movie so much as an episode of Scooby Doo. At the end, the "not" ghost would say something like "And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids catching me eating a hamburger."
So what do we do with this passage? Do we build an elaborate theological construct concerning the supernatural and the Christian faith based on these verses?
Or do we instead appreciate once again how the Bible, and the gospels in particular, have this amazing capacity to catch the reality of the human condition? In all its foibles and frailties. Even in the broken expectations of Jesus' followers, they "know" people don’t come back from the dead. And when they are left to their broken human devices, the disciples come to the conclusion of "ghost".
Thanks be to our great King and Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, that He goes on to give them (and us) the truth of a much more satisfying, and eternal, explanation. And thank you Lord Jesus for being there for them (and us) in our weakness and showing all of us that you are the way, the truth, and the life.
Amen.
Pastor Peter
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