A reflection on the risen Christ

“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:16

This week, I’ve been thinking about the reactions and responses to the resurrected Christ among those who knew Him before His death.

Mary Magdalene, thinking she was speaking only to the gardener, was distraught and pleaded with him to tell her where the body of her Lord had been placed so that she could care for it.

The couple on the road to Emmaus were taken aback by the fact that the One walking with them seemed oblivious to what had happened.

The disciples were behind locked doors, afraid—and shocked—as Jesus appeared to them.

Thomas, absent from the disciples’ first post-resurrection encounter, refused to believe until he had visible, tangible proof.

In each of these encounters, Jesus patiently reveals Himself. He doesn’t run around, animatedly parading the extraordinary feat He had just accomplished. He simply begins engaging with people once again, walking alongside and communing with those on the path and around the table, just as He had always done. And in each interaction, the unbelieving disciple eventually recognized, once again, the Lord in their midst.

Sometimes I wonder if we (e.i., I), who live millennia on the other side of the Resurrection story, wrestle no less with fully living into the reality of the risen Christ. We’ve believed in Him. We’ve followed Him. We’ve said we’ll go to any length with Him—but do we trust Him to be everything He is, not just as Teacher and Lord, but as the One who has conquered all evil and death forever?

And just as I doubt, feel discouraged, or grow weary, He doesn’t reveal Himself in high-energy ebullience. He just… is with me. He is with us—engaging, walking alongside, and communing as we sit, and rise, and walk, and eat, and lie down.

I know that every era in human history has had its challenges, and this “in-between” time of Christ’s ascension and return seems no less hard. I must remind myself that just as the Israelites long awaited their promised Messiah, we long await the return of ours—the same Messiah and Victor over all that is broken in this world. I must remind myself that He is just as concerned about and attuned to our lives as He was to those with whom He physically walked this earth. I must remind myself daily of His very words:

“Take heart! I have overcome the world.”

He is risen indeed.

~em

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