They were startled and terrified and they thought they were seeing a ghost. That is a big problem, if we experience Jesus as a ghost. Let's think about that for a minute. I don't know about you but I think ghosts do not exist. So when I see a shadow or a light in the wrong place the only thing I need to do is to discover the nature of my misperception.
If you do believe in ghosts then you judge what you see as a disembodied spirit. This is even a bigger problem because then your world view is Greek and not Christian since the scripture and our Trinitarian Creeds do not permit believing that the Risen Jesus is a disembodied spirit.
So let us look together at this story about Jesus appearing alive. The most important feature of this story is that Jesus is wounded, he showed them his hands and his feet. Ghosts don't have hands and feet and only Jesus bears those characteristic wound in these places. It is as if Jesus were dead and alive at the same time. That is what Paul gets at in his letters when he says I resolve to know only Christ and him crucified. Jesus does not appear healed, but clearly he is present. With the marks of his death but also as alive.
His marks are carried by our Lord as trophies, this shows and tells us that it was his whole human life including his death, which was made alive and presented before the disciples as a sign that he defeated death. Not only for himself but for all who experience him.
Jesus happens to you, death becomes an empty shell. None of us has any reason to fear being dead, something which is an absolute certainty for each of us, since the dead state does not separate us from the real source of life, this risen Lord who is now standing before his disciples.
Jesus appears as the one who was crucified and now risen. The slaughtered Lamb has returned. His wounds are trophies held up for us to see so that we might be encouraged by them. Then Jesus makes sure we are totally off the ghost thing when he asks for something to eat as if to say don't make any mistake about the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
As if that is not enough Jesus then treats them to something that is commonly available to each of us right now, bible study. Today the bible is our greatest treasure and our greatest danger. The bible is the cause of very much moral and mental illness. Much of what passes for bible study is just a mountain of manure. So much of what passes for bible study in fact hides Jesus.
On the very day that Jesus rose he taught us how to read our bibles and it was not in the flat all scripture is the same view. Jesus revealed a dynamic view of scripture that sees it all in reference to his risen-ness.
In terms of himself, means reading through the eyes of Jesus. Reading the scriptures through the eyes of Jesus means carrying the story of Jesus in our minds as we read and judge everything in the light of his story. In other words the Word, Jesus, interprets the text. We even have to judge the stories about Jesus like this one before us today in the light and eyes of the risen Lord. The death of Jesus, his rising, the cross and resurrection all belong at the center. Paul's promise to know nothing but Christ and especially Christ crucified, and Luther's, the cross is our only theology are examples of this technique in using the scriptures.
Jesus told us what the bible is about, it is all about him, about his death at the hands of people who were sure they were doing God's will. He dies to show us how we love ourselves, our institutions and our habits over everything else.
We make ourselves into idols, we have made sacred places, we try to keep God in the boxes we make, but he will have none of it. Jesus came to put an end to the temple, he makes no distinction between Jew and Greek, bound or free, male or female. He rejects every distinction of status made by the defenders of religion.
The bible is about Jesus' death, which is revelatory and special. Most significantly
the bible is about Jesus resurrection and life. In the Bible we see the veil
drawn away and the light of life shines in our darkness. The Bible is about
a risen man, not a dead idol. Properly read, the Bible is all about Jesus and
all about life, because Jesus is the point of it all, flesh and bones body and
blood he stands before us.