I’ll confess right here: in my youth, I spent a good bit of psychic energy wrestling with myself and others over the question of whether Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances could have been captured by a video camera. Behind the question was my tacit assumption that if the answer were, “No, a videotape would have shown nothing,” then the Resurrection couldn’t be real. It would only be something like a metaphor to convey how amazing the disciples’ new energy was that Sunday morning.
At least for me, tussling with that particular question was a healthy phase of a lifelong faith journey. While my video-tape test now seems fervently simplistic and inadequate, it cleared the ground for a more considered Resurrection understanding, one that’s been unfolding during a lifetime.
Today’s Gospel reading* tells of Jesus’ Resurrection appearance to a group of his disciples, whose fear had led them to meet behind locked doors. Thomas had not been with the group that day, and refused to believe their reports: he needed to see for himself. A week later, Thomas was with them when Jesus returned among them. All Thomas’ doubt melted away, and he instinctively exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.”
Reflecting on Thomas, and the entire handful of Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances, I’m struck with the centrality of the moment of Recognition in these accounts. Mary thought that Jesus was a gardener until he spoke her name; the disciples at Emmaus recognized Jesus only in the breaking of the bread. And, though Jesus had appeared to them twice before, his presence among the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee was only recognized when he filled their fishers’ nets to overflowing.
So much depends on Recognition! God is always asking us the question we find in Isaiah 43:19, “Behold! I am doing a new thing! Do you not perceive it?” But its very newness makes it nearly impossible to see with just a first look: usually we see only what we already know to look for.
The Resurrection is one of the biggest New Things God has ever done. So, as one Daily Quote puts it, “Seeing the Resurrection requires a second look, another glance.” This is as true for us today as for Jesus’ followers 2,000 years ago. Often he is revealed when we aren’t looking all that closely. And then most often, there this little gap between what we originally experienced or sensed, and the dawn of recognition that Christ was present in that particular person or moment.
Knowing Christ, then and now, isn’t the kind of knowing that’s like learning a new fact,—or watching a YouTube video, for that matter. It’s more a matter of learning to see with the eyes of the heart. “Were our hearts not burning within us as he spoke with us on the road?” the travelers to Emmaus asked themselves. Resurrection invites us, like them, to tune our perceptions to a different frequency, and see what we find there.
–Jeanne Marcus, Alumna member of CoS Communities
Questions for Reflection:
- When have you experienced Christ sometime when you least expected?
- How did you know?
- What difference did it make?
