The risen Jesus is really real. Real flesh and real bone. His resurrected body can be touched and is able to eat. In fact, the risen Jesus is so real that the disciples initially struggle to recognise him. This is new, but true, embodied life in God’s new creation; an embodied life that is no longer subject to death and decay, and so at once is at home in both earth and heaven. At this the disciples praise God with great joy and are left with a job to do: repentance and forgiveness are to be announced to the nations so that the whole world might be brought into the embrace of God’s redemptive love.
• How will you respond to the risen Jesus today? Why not take a moment to praise God and thank him for the life, death and resurrection of his son?
• Resurrection life is an embodied one. What difference might this make to the way that you live your life now?
• ‘I believe that on the third day Jesus rose from the dead.’ What do you think the significance of making this confession is?
• Take a moment to reflect on your Lenten journey through the Gospel of Luke and note two or three ways in which your life will be different from now on. Thank God for all he has revealed to you over the past 40 days, and pray that St Stephen’s would be known for its resurrection life.
