Reflection on Luke 24:35-48

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Sisters and brothers, in today’s Gospel, Jesus appeared alive to his disciples. The moment they saw him, they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. They were also terrified because the one the betrayed, denied and abandoned has return. In this Gospel, the resurrected Christ did two things before his frightened disciples: first, he showed his wounds, and then says, “Shalom,” which means “Peace.” Why is the showing of the wounds so important? By showing his wounds, Jesus presses them and everyone not to forget what we did to him. The author of life came, and we killed him. Great message! 

So, to all those people in our society who brag and say, ‘I am okay, you are okay,’ and ‘Everything is fine with me,’ please, do not believe such the next time you hear someone says it. The wounds of Jesus are the sign of our own spiritual dysfunction. When the risen Lord showed his wounds he is asking us not to forget it. 

But after showing his wounds, what follows it? Not vengeance! If you are watching a Hollywood or Nollywood movie of a poor man who has been betrayed, denied, abandoned by all at the moment of truth and was put to death, and after a few days he rises from the dead, would you not expect that he is going to unleash vengeance on those who betrayed and put him to death? As for the Risen Jesus he said, “Shalom!” (Peace). The word “Shalom” sums up what God intended for his people from the beginning. What sin has interrupted is “Shalom.” What sin has disrupted is peace— that is well being at every level. To those who had denied, betrayed, and abandoned him, he offers the word of forgiveness and peace. We killed God, and God returned in forgiving and redeeming love. The terrible disorder of the cross (the crucifixion of Jesus) is addressed not through more disorder, not through more violence, not through greater aggression, not through an explosion of divine vengeance but through a radiation of divine love and redeeming mercy. Check this out! Jesus visited his disciples who contributed to his death by their denial, betrayal and abandonment and did not unleash his anger or rebuke them in disappointment. In contrast, he speaks words reconciliation and compassion. 

So, what does this mean to us? It means there is no sin that God in principle cannot forgive. There is finally nothing that can separate us from the love of God. St. Paul said in his letters to the Romans that I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither heights nor depths or any other power can separate us from the love of God. How does Paul know that? Because he met the risen Jesus who showed his wounds and said “Shalom.”