1. What a time… what a time for us to hear Jesus say, “touch me and see” (Lk. 24). So many of my friends have not touched another person for months. Our vast universe of touch has shrunk to a tiny island containing only one or two other persons. Never before did I fully appreciate the ritual of shaking hands in church, or the power of physical connection.

A global crisis of intimacy continues to unfold all around us. This is the third week of the seven week Easter Season (it’s one week longer than Lent). During this time we consider how Jesus appears to his friends after his death and the unexpected mixture of their responses to him. Standing together on the threshold of great changes this is a time to wonder at the strangeness of resurrection, and of anything truly new and alive.

It is also the season when we explore the possibility of a deeper intimacy with God. After his death when Jesus encounters his friends they respond in a wide variety of ways. Even after she sees angels, when Jesus appears to his friend Mary Magdalene she confuses him for the gardener (Jn. 20). Thomas sees and believes (Jn. 20) but the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus also fail to recognize him.

Today’s Gospel from the Book of Luke comes immediately after his friends share what they saw on the road to Emmaus. When the whole group also sees Jesus they feel “startled and terrified.” They think Jesus is a ghost. Even after he explains, after he tells them to touch him, after he shows them the wounds on his hands and feet – that still is not enough. In the crucial next sentence Luke explains, “… in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” And so Jesus seeks to prove his physical reality by sharing a meal with them.

My friend Matt Boulton points out that this story vividly describes how doubt is naturally a part of faith. He makes the point that when it comes to the resurrection perhaps the goal for a follower of Jesus is not, “a settled, solemn “belief.” Instead the last story in Luke’s gospel suggests that our response should be a “blend of joy, disbelief, and wondering,” that this is the truly authentic experience a miracle.[i]

 

[i] Matthew Boulton, “Touch: SALT’s Lectionary Commentary for Easter 3,” SALT, 12 April 2021.

“Like last week, this is a perfect time to name, affirm,  and explore the role of doubt and disbelief in the life of faith. Should a disciple’s goal be a settled, solemn “belief”? Luke’s story suggests otherwise. A blend of joy, disbelief, and wondering would seem much closer to the astonishment a miracle is supposed to engender — and after all, such a state of joy/disbelief/wonder may well keep our hearts and minds humble and open to whatever the Spirit may do next. Viewed from this angle, it may be more orthodox, not less, to say (with a twinkle in our eyes), “I am astounded by the physical resurrection!” rather than (with flat solemnity) “I am convinced of it.” Herein lies a glimpse of the difference between mere “belief” and a living, growing faith. These ancient stories, to which we rightly return again and again, aim to astonish us, to leave us “taken aback,” to call into question our assumptions about what may or may not be "possible" and “impossible,” and so to invite us into an open-minded, open-hearted posture of disbelief, wonder, and joy.”

https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2018/4/10/faith-and-doubt-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-easter-3