Too Good to be True...

They just didn’t get it. He comes, he says, “Peace be with you…” yet they are terrified. But wait just a minute. We have 2000 years of acquaintance with the idea of resurrection. They had no idea of what happened to a human being after death. No wonder they were incredulous and full of fear.

Then he asks if they have anything to eat, and they calm down. He deals with them gently, according to their human need. He did the same with Mary Magdalen, with the two on the way to Emmaus, and with Thomas. “You need to put your hand here and your fingers into my wounds, Thomas? OK, here I am…do what you need to do.” He meets them where they are.

In our day, and in our times, he is the same: yesterday, today, and forever. He still meets us where we are. So what really happens to a human being in resurrection? Scripture assures us that as he is, so shall we be. What happened to the physical part of Jesus, and what will happen to the physical part of ourselves?

For one thing we know the no matter goes out of existence. Einstein assures us that it simply changes form. We know that shifting an electron or proton on the periodic table creates a new element. So what happens to our DNA, our double helix, our michocondria, our cell structure in resurrection when eternal life touches it and brings it to the peak of its possibility? What is the peak of its possibility? After all, there’s arthritis, and glaucoma, and palsy, and Altzheimers…and all the rest.

What if, just what if we go through a metamorphosis, a change something like the butter-fly? What if the original recipe of our DNA reassembles and becomes transparent of the love energy, the compassion, the forgiveness that we developed before we died? What if the physical becomes a window into the beauty of the heart? Why didn’t the apostles recognize Jesus? Then suddenly they did recognize him. Did he change, or did they change? How did it come to pass that “their eyes were opened?” Is that what happens with us too?

Is Easter a preview of coming attractions for us? Is Jesus giving us a final revelation, and it is about “what we shall be?” No wonder that when he showed them how we would all end up, they were incredulous. Yes, indeed, almost too good to be true. And you?

Risen Lord,

Your light-some beauty would blind me

If in your kindness you didn’t mute it.

You feed me with yourself and with each sacred banquet I become more what I eat.

Meet me where I am and call me forth to all I can be. Open my eyes so I can see the wonder of your new life peeking through the lattice-work of my time and space.