The Easter season gives disciples today a chance to reorient their own ministries for the road ahead. Travel tip: the promise of resurrection exceeds our wildest imaginings.
The followers of Jesus wanted nothing more than to have the old Jesus, the resuscitated Jesus, back again. Instead, they got the resurrected Christ. Resurrection is not resuscitation.
My aging mother had such bad feet that it was hard to buy her new shoes. By the time she’d finally gotten the uppers worn in around her bunions, the soles were wrecked. While we were shoe shopping, she’d wail: “I don’t want new shoes; I want my old shoes back again.” But resurrection is not about finding the perfect fit for gnarled feet; resurrected means getting new feet. Resurrection signals life on new terms entirely. No wonder the disciples couldn’t recognize the risen Christ. They were too busy looking for the old Jesus. Resurrection doesn’t give us the old Jesus back again; resurrection gives us grace beyond imagining, the risen Christ.
This message is excerpted from “What did the risen Christ look like?” by M. E. Stortz in the April 2020 Gather magazine. Today is the Third Sunday of Easter.
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