Meeting the Risen Christ

When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, he convinced them that he was not a ghost but the same one that they had known as their teacher and friend. To his frightened and doubtful friends he said: "See by my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves" (Luke 24:39). Then he asked them for something to eat and later, when he appeared to them for the third time, he offered them breakfast, bread and fish (see Luke 24:42-43 and John 21:12-14).
But Jesus also showed them that his body was a new spiritual body, no longer subject to the laws of nature. While the doors of the room where the disciples had gathered were closed, Jesus came and stood among them (see John 20:19), and when he offered them breakfast, nobody dared to ask: "Who are you?" They knew it was Jesus, their Lord and teacher, but they also knew that he no longer belonged to their world (see John 21:12). It was this experience of the risen Jesus that revealed to his disciples the life in the resurrection that was awaiting them. Are there any experiences in our lives that give us a hint of the new life that has been promised us?

- Henri Nouwen