and feet, and see that it is I myself! Touch me, and see for yourselves, for a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have!” (As he said this, he showed his hands
and feet.) Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, as they were astonished; so he said to them, “Have you anything to eat?” And they gave
him a piece of broiled fish. He took it, and ate it before them. Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you: Everything
written about me in the law of Moses, in the prophets and in the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said,
“So it was written: the Messiah had to suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in his name would be proclaimed to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.
Reflection:
When the serpent inquired of any prohibitions from God, Eve
readily cited God’s prohibitive orders and with some ingenious
addition of her own: “God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of
the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch
it, or you shall die’” (Gen 3:3). God had made no mention of
touching (cf. Gen 2.15); it was Eve’s own invention, which
could only mean her own sinful desire to break the law and grab
what was God’s, and her own mind’s powerful self-censuring
by unconscious addition to the original prohibition. Such
heightened prohibition had since then remained in the collective
consciousness of Israel: to touch God’s Ark was to die. The truth
is, grace should not be grabbed; it must be received gratefully
when given graciously. Now that the Time has come, Jesus invites
us, the frightened humanity, to do what we have long desired:
to touch Divinity, feel the scars of his wounds of love for us, and to
merge our self in his embrace, like a child in its mother’s.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022