FRIDAY, April 9 Friday in Easter Week

John 21:1-14. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him. "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

The scene shifts to Galilee, but the apostles are still mystified. Had they not a right to be? Could mortal men be expected to adjust themselves in a few days to such a world-shaking fact as Jesus' resurrection?

No matter how much he used earthly and everyday assurances, the Lord in his risen body must have had marvelous properties whose glory neither they nor we could grasp.

But here is a point that ought to be of great comfort. Even in his mysterious, glorified risen state, the Lord is just as mindful as ever he was in the old days of the earthly needs of his people. "Children, you have no fish, have you?"

What can this mean to a believer in his pain, his deficiency, unemployment, or whatever distress? We can lift up our hearts to one who knows, who cares, and who will supply our need--or make us able to bear it. (1950)

PRAY for the Diocese of Cameroon (Region Missionaire, West Africa)

Ps 116:1-8 or 118:19-24; Acts 4:1-12

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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Apr 09, 2010 at 8:04 am

Written by Susan Blair,

Each time Jesus appears to the disciples following the resurrection, it is recorded (either implicitly or explicitly) that he was not at first recognized. Mary only "sees" him once he has spoken her name. On other ocassions, he is recognized only after he has shown them his hands and feet. On the walk to Emmaus, he spends what may have been a day's journey with these men and they only come to open their eyes after Christ breaks the bread. And finally with today's scripture, they know him by a sign.

There may be no answer as to why this is, the lack of recognition or Jesus' purposeful shielding of their eyes. J/W if anyone has thoughts on the topic. I don't believe I've ever heard anyone speak on it.

PS Steve, thanks for the "I do."

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Apr 09, 2010 at 9:13 am

Written by Steve Doutt,

Susan,

Maybe it's to guide us to see Christ in others. There's a subtle difference between waiting for Christ, and expecting to see Christ. Maybe these events were to guide us from seeing Christ as an individual manifestation of God to seeing Christ manifested in all of us.

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Apr 09, 2010 at 11:37 am

Written by Andrea,

Thanks for the question, Susan. The possibility Steve mentions has always made sense to me. Some other ones I've thought of over the years: Maybe it is to remind us that the spiritual body after the resurrection isn't the same as the physical, pre-resurrection body. (Jesus's response to the Sadducees' question about the woman with seven husbands su*gests this, as do Paul's comments in 1 Cor 15:35-41.) And maybe we're not supposed to be too certain of our own "image" of Jesus. A Jesuit priest I was reading recently said that the opposite of faith isn't doubt, it's certainty - so maybe too much certainty isn't a good thing for our spiritual development, and the stories of the resurrected Jesus point at that.

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Apr 09, 2010 at 7:48 pm

Written by CDL,

Wow, Steve, I really like your comments and thank you for opening my eyes to a new way of interpreting the accounts of Jesus after the resurrection. Thank you very much.

Thanks for the problem

Apr 09, 2010 at 8:55 pm

Written by Steve Doutt,

Thank you Susan for "Just Wondering". I really hadn't thought this through until you posed the question; but, as I prayed and thought and wrote (and re-wrote) I was able to pull the idea through the veil into the light where I could see it and touch it and communicate it. Thanks be to God.

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