Because He lives

Many years ago I met a Anne. She and her husband been faithful churchgoers throughout their lives until age and infirmity got the better of them.

John, who was the love of Anne’s life, died. Intelligent, articulate and crabbed, Ann wanted physical proof of the things of God and was blind to the God who was all around her and died pretty much despairing. So sad that she couldn’t see the God who was with her constantly. In John’s Gospel, as in the other accounts, we discover after the crucifixion that the disciples are frightened, gathered together trying to find comfort and help from one another, and Jesus comes and stands among them.

John is trying to show us a new kind of presence. It is a presence that can come through closed doors. It is a presence outside space or time. His greeting to them is Shalom, a word that for the Jews promises fulfilment. It is John’s way of showing us that in the presence of the risen Lord, we can find complete fulfilment. Because He lives, we can find true and lasting fulfilment.

Then Jesus shows them His hands and His side. The risen Jesus is still the wounded Jesus. It is a symbol of humanity. We enter into eternity in our wounded state. Jesus brings His wounded humanity before the Father and trusts in the Father’s love.

That is what we do, and the Father’s gaze of love will bring us to wholeness and peace. Then we will finally know that we don’t have to be perfect to be loved. We just have to trust and believe in this love. Our hope in the resurrection is that God will be God, that God will be the kind of lover that we understand. It was true for Jesus and so will be for us. Because He lives, we know that God can be trusted. The resurrection of Jesus is an invitation to really trust in God’s love and to believe that we will follow the Lord. There is no need to be afraid of your sin, your wounds or your brokenness. God’s love is enough. Because He lives forever, we too will live forever in His love.