3rd Sunday in Easter

21 years ago, Mel Gibson starred with Helen Hunt in the Hollywood blockbuster film What Women Want. Through a freak accident the character played by Mel Gibson acquires the ability to hear the secret thoughts of any woman who is within a radius of ten meters of him. Of course he exploits this ability shamelessly to get into the pants of not a few women. There are also not a few scenes where Mel Gibson’s character exploits this ability to shame and mock the women who surround him and acquire power over them. Imagine how frightening it would be for us if someone in our own entourage could read our secret thoughts.

This is essentially what the Risen Jesus is able to do, to read our secret thoughts. You may remember the prophecy made by Simeon at the beginning of Luke’s gospel when Jesus is presented in the Temple. Simeon prophesies that Jesus is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel and the secret thoughts of many will be laid bare. The Greek word which is translated by the English phrase secret thoughts is “dialogismos.” This same word appears in today’s gospel, when Jesus asks his disciples why these doubts are rising in their hearts. The word dialogismos takes on a slightly different meaning of “doubts” in this context, nevertheless it remains within the same semantic field of secret thoughts. Now normally a person who can read the minds and expose the secret thoughts of others would be pretty scary. It is this scary aspect of Jesus that reinforces the apostles terror.

This quality of the Risen Jesus, along with his ability to simply appear and disappear as he wills, lends itself an interpretation of the resurrection as simply the apparition of a ghost. Indeed this is perhaps why the disciples are filled with doubt and terror when they see him. In the Shona culture, Jesus’ death would be the exactly the kind of death to turn his spirit into an ngozi, an avenging spirit. There was enough of a mix of betrayal, violence, jealousy and cowardice on the part of all the main actors in Jesus’ Passion to warrant the visit of an avenging spirit. Small wonder the apostles are terrified when they see him. Perhaps they fear retribution for having abandoned their master. This is why the first words out of Jesus’ mouth are “Peace be with you.” Jesus wants to assure them first of all that he has not come to recriminate them for their pusillanimity. Unlike Mel Gibson in What Women Want, Jesus does not use his ability to know their secret thoughts to manipulate them.

He is ever so gentle with the disciples and takes them from where they are, and tries to move them forward past their terror and into a space of faith, just as he did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. In fact it was the very fact that the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus that enabled him to minister to them and move them into a space of faith. Had they recognized him instantly they would have been too terrified to understand anything. This speaks to the way that God will often use anonymous and hidden ways to minister to us. The gentleness of the Risen Jesus is poignantly clear as Jesus pleads with them “can’t you see, I am me myself,” the one you laughed and dined with just a few days ago. But the gentle Risen Jesus must not be mistaken for a pushover, Jesus does need them to take a position. We cannot be neutral in front of the Risen Jesus – as I outlined in last week’s homily, belief in the resurrection is not simply on the level of a fact. The Risen Lord forces us to take a position either for or against Him – we cannot sit on the fence. It is in this sense that the secret thoughts and the doubts of many will be laid bare. When we are confronted by the Risen Lord a response of faith is demanded of us – we need to go all in. If Jesus is truly Risen, then it means that everything he preached and stood for is true and must be witnessed to in our lives and preached to others, with words, if necessary. This is why we see the Risen Jesus missioning his disciples in today’s gospel to go and preach the good news to all nations.

The resurrection is God drawing a line in the sand and saying – ok so you’ve had enough time to get to know my Son and his agenda. Through raising him up from the dead, I’ve proved to you beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is my Son and all he has said to you comes from me. Now you have to decide, are you going to follow him and commit your whole life to continuing the mission that he gave you? The ball is in your court. Questions for reflection

1. How do I deal with doubt in my life? Have I experienced the Risen Lord ministering to me with infinite tenderness in the midst of my doubts?
2. Am I freaked out or consoled by the fact that the Risen Lord knows and gently challenges my innermost thoughts?
3. Where in my life is God calling me to preach and witness to the Good News of the resurrection?