Main news for 18 April 2023

King James Version (en)

Luke, Chapter 24, verses 35-38

¹³ Christ himself appeareth to the two disciples that went to Emmaus, ³⁶ Afterwards he appeareth to the apostles and reproveth their unbelief

³⁵And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

³⁶And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

³⁷But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

³⁸And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

NOTES

The first thing Jesus brings is peace. Saint Augustine wrote that our heart is restless “until it rests in You.” Deep peace in the heart is a sign of a genuine visitation from God. Perfect peace is a very exalted state; it is precisely this peace that the peacemakers of the Gospel “make” and bring with them. This state of peace in one's thoughts, heart, and even body is so precious and so akin to God that those who bring this peace from Him will be called sons of God. In biblical language, a “son” means one who partakes of something: someone who bears a particular quality or attribute (for example, the nickname of the sons of Zebedee, “sons of thunder”), or someone whose appearance is associated with a particular event in a person's life—with birth or death, victory or defeat (“son of consolation,” “son of my sorrow”). The sons of God are people who have participated in divine peace to such an extent that they can bring it to others, conveying to those around them the peaceful state of their heart in which God reigns. Such peacemaking is a sign of righteousness. It is already an action in itself. It was not by chance that Saint Seraphim of Sarov regarded peace in the heart as the clearest sign that the Holy Spirit had come to dwell there, and said: “Acquire peace, and thousands around you will be saved.” The peace that comes from God is essential to our world, which is torn apart by conflicts and wars, the chief and first of them being the war in our thoughts and feelings.

The Good News of Jesus is, above all, peace. That is why the Lord's first words to His disciples after the Resurrection were the greeting: “Peace be with you.” The apostles are fearful and trembling, as they always are when present at a miracle (for example, when the storm was calmed, they likewise thought they were seeing a ghost). But the Lord gives us “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). The power of the Holy Spirit grows out of deep inner peace. It is the result of the reconciliation between humanity and God accomplished on the Cross, of which the Spirit informs every believer. The Lord has reconciled us to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18) and, having gained victory over hell and death, proclaims this victory to His disciples. All subsequent apostolic preaching can be reduced to the appeal: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20), that is, accept the peace and forgiveness of sins bestowed by the Lord.

“It is I Myself.” How each of us would like to hear this word of Christ in our own life—to hear it as a word addressed directly to me. “Lord, let me find You, truly find You, so that my life may really change and become a witness to You.” Yet we seem to seek and knock, while no full answer comes. We do not feel that we are truly breathing the air of eternity, that we have known Him (John 17:3), that we “walk with Him” as His disciples and friends did. There have been glimpses, moments of grace, perhaps even a vivid conversion, yet our life has still not been transformed…

Yes, an encounter with God that renews and transforms the soul is as “impossible” a miracle as the Resurrection of Jesus was for the apostles. And this miracle became reality. More than that, the Lord promises that for those who believe “through their word” (John 17:20), an encounter with Christ will likewise become reality through the Holy Spirit, whom He will send to all who seek Him. “Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13); this request simply cannot remain unheard. The prayer that seeks Him is the one and deepest supplication arising from the depths of our soul. From its very beginning, such prayer is inspired by the Holy Spirit, mysteriously guided by Him, and fulfilled by Him as well. But, alas, our own depths are often inaccessible to us, buried under rubbish and debris, all kinds of needless thoughts, resentments, bustle, and old wounds. We must clear away the wreckage, find this prayer within ourselves, and see what the soul secretly asks for day and night. This is the labor of repentance. For this reason ascetics went into forests and deserts, so as to devote themselves entirely to seeking the “treasure hidden in a field”; this is also the meaning and significance of the Church's fasts, especially Great Lent. But it is also the labor of a whole lifetime. May each of us behold the light of the Resurrection.

…The disciples had to experience separation from Christ twice. The first time was when He died on the Cross; the second, when He ascended into heaven. The first separation was the greatest tragedy, but the second was the greatest joy (Luke 24:52), because the disciples knew that they had not been left alone. They felt Christ's presence in their lives and His constant participation; they knew that the Lord and Teacher had not abandoned them. They awaited the fulfillment of “the promise of the Father”—the coming of “another Counselor” (John 14:16) and their being clothed with power from on high to bear witness. The Holy Spirit is the One who brings Christ's presence into our lives, reveals to us the reality of His redeeming work, and bears witness in our hearts that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16). He discloses to us the true meaning of Holy Scripture (cf. Luke 24:45) and enables us to understand that the same Christ whom we meet on the pages of the Gospel is also at work in our lives. In the Holy Spirit we will find Christ and gain the strength to follow Him. Let us pray, and pray for one another, that the light of the Resurrection may enlighten and cleanse us, penetrating with love into the most distant and wounded corners of the soul; that we too, like the first apostles, may meet the Risen One; that at last, after the long night, the day may begin to dawn and the morning star rise in our hearts (2 Pet. 1:19).

Today's reading gives a detailed account of the disciples' encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus. This story is preceded by mention of the empty tomb discovered by the women, as well as of their encounter with...

Today's reading gives a detailed account of the disciples' encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus (vv. 13–35). This story is preceded by mention of the empty tomb discovered by the women, as well as of their encounter with the angels, which they reported to the apostles (vv. 1–12). It would seem that the women's account should have prepared the disciples for the possibility of seeing the Teacher risen from the dead, especially since Peter, after visiting the tomb, had made certain that it was empty, thus confirming the story which the apostles had at first disbelieved (vv. 11–12). Yet the disciples walking to Emmaus do not recognize Jesus as He walks beside them (vv. 15–16). Only at the meal, when He broke the bread and recited the corresponding Jewish prayer said at the breaking of bread, did the apostles recognize Him (vv. 30–31).

At first glance, the situation seems rather strange: the disciples initially see Jesus quite clearly but cannot understand that it is He; then, once they recognize Him, for some reason they suddenly lose sight of the Teacher. Yet what we may have before us here is a description of the reality of the Kingdom as it is revealed to someone standing at the boundary between it and the world not yet transformed. Since the coming of Christ, the Kingdom is no longer separated from us by a barrier as it was before, and now anyone who lives a spiritual life can at times see those who dwell in the Kingdom, just as the apostles saw the risen Jesus.

But seeing and recognizing are not the same thing. Recognition requires more than seeing the Kingdom from outside: one must enter it. For the apostles, this happens at the breaking of bread. Just as once at the Last Supper, they find themselves in the Kingdom and then recognize Jesus breaking and blessing the bread. Had they been able to retain the fullness of the Kingdom that had opened before them, perhaps they would not have lost sight of the Teacher. But even before the Resurrection, they often saw Him not with spiritual sight but with physical sight alone. So it is now: the spiritual sight so essential for life in the Kingdom opened in them only for a moment and then went dark again. Although they continued to remain physically in the Kingdom, they became as though blind within it: only that in which untransformed nature still remained was left accessible to their perception.

If the former, untransformed humanity had still remained in Jesus, perhaps they would not have lost sight of Him. But after the Resurrection it was no longer present in Him, and therefore the disciples could no longer see Him. It would seem that after Jesus' Resurrection everything in the apostles' lives should have changed. But encounters with the Risen One alone were not enough for such changes to take place. The apostles themselves still had to be transformed, and this required time and a special action of the Spirit of God, which still lay ahead.

For many people today, the question of resurrection recedes into the background, giving way to thoughts about postmortem existence, the immortality of the soul, rewards and punishments after death, heaven and hell. Meanwhile, the Bible says very little about all this, if it says anything at all. Evidently the biblical authors were concerned not with what often concerns us today, but with something completely different: what they called resurrection from the dead.

At first glance it can appear that the difference is not essential: in the end, the subject is still life after death, and the details are not so important. In reality, the difference between the immortality of the soul and resurrection is very great. What is the immortality of the soul in general? What kind of life, what kind of postmortem existence, could be meant in that case?

From the biblical point of view, the postmortem existence awaiting a person is rather bleak: it is not full life, but its pitiful likeness, which can hardly satisfy anyone. There is no question of a person's complete disappearance after death, but what awaits him after death can be called life only with great reservation. All that remains of a person is a shadow; he loses feelings and thoughts, almost loses the memory of his own life and of the world of the living: a shadow in which only a remnant of consciousness barely flickers. It is no accident that when the apostles saw the risen Jesus, they thought they had before them the shadow of their Teacher coming out of the tomb: none of them expected any other postmortem existence, and a meeting with a shadow, even the shadow of a loved one, could bring the living nothing good. The Bible tells us nothing about a blessed postmortem existence or about postmortem recompense like that mentioned in Egyptian or Greek myths.

But it does speak about resurrection, and the image of the risen Jesus shows us quite clearly the difference between postmortem existence and resurrection. Resurrection is not the preservation of pitiful remnants of life after the death of the body, but a return to life in all its fullness, requiring the transformation of human nature itself. Such is the transfigured humanity of the risen Jesus: on the one hand, He can pass through a locked door, which is no longer an obstacle for Him; on the other, He is able to eat the same ordinary earthly food that any of us eats. He is not a shadow; He deliberately lets the disciples touch Him so that they can be convinced of this. He is a man of flesh and blood, although this flesh and this blood live according to different laws from those by which we live.

And He gives the apostles the chance to understand that He has not simply returned to life, but has conquered, has overcome death, which no longer has power over Him. In the same way, it has no power over the life of the Kingdom that He brought into the world and offers to each of us.

FAQ

What should be understood by the form of resurrection, described both in the Gospel (Christ's words that on the Day of Judgment He will resurrect those who live according to His word) and in the Apocalypse (the description of the judgment of the dead)? What will be the form, including the physical one, of the life of a resurrected person? When the risen Christ appeared before the disciples, in order to dispel their fear, He asked them for food and ate with them. Furthermore, knowing of Thomas's unbelief, He Himself asked him to touch the wounds from the crucifixion. Does it follow from this that the resurrected will also have a material form? Is this so, and what then will the spiritual component be?

Yes, you are right, the resurrected will also have a material component, and the body, judging by the wounds on the Body of the Risen Christ, will be the very same. In this lies the radical difference between the Christian faith and spiritualism, which considers that after the death of the flesh only the soul will live, as well as the belief in the reincarnation of souls. The ancient Apostles' Creed states that we believe in "the resurrection of the body", and our current Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed states that we "look for the resurrection of the dead" also in the flesh. This is fundamentally important, because Christianity considers a human being to be a creature consisting of an immaterial soul and a material body. The flesh alone, just like the soul alone, is remarkable, but it is not a human being. God desires specifically human beings, and it is precisely them that He came to save.

At the same time, the flesh of the Risen Christ differed from our flesh; in particular, it was not subject to the laws of this world. The Apostle Paul, speaking of the end of the world, says: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" ( 15:51-53). On this basis, Christians believe that in the resurrection of the dead our flesh will become as it was intended by God prior to the Fall, and they call it transfigured. This resurrection of us in our own, yet transfigured flesh, in its union with our own soul, accomplished by God, will become the beginning of the general transfiguration of creation.

The spiritual component, therefore, will not disappear either, and the resurrected person will be a human being, not a soul with little wings from ancient pagan myths. What will this spiritual component be? This will apparently be determined by our life here. If you were dead to sin and alive to God, and already here became a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, then your transfigured life has already begun here, and at the general resurrection it will unfold in all its fullness. But if you were dead to God and alive to sin…

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