Thursday 4 April 2024

Today is Thursday 4 April, in the 1st week of Eastertide.

Bethel Music sings, ‘Jesus My King’.

Son of God
Carried the cross of redemption
Crown of thorns
Placed on the head of perfection
Jesus, gloria
Jesus my King
Nail pierced hands
Scars that remind me of mercy
Arms out-wide
Welcoming all who are guilty
Into the light of Your glory
Jesus, gloria
Jesus my King
Jesus, gloria
Jesus my King
How great the heart of the Father
How great the mercy of God
How great the price that He paid
For love oh
How great the heart of the Father
How great the mercy of God
How great the price that He paid
For love
Oh the price that He paid for love
Jesus, gloria
Jesus my King

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 24:35-48

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Today's story begins with the return to Jerusalem of those who had encountered Jesus in the extraordinary story of the Emmaus Road. What do you think they might have been saying when they “told what had happened on the road”? How do you imagine them explaining the remarkable events?

“They thought they were seeing a ghost.” Can you get a sense of what might have been going on inside them during this moment? Spend some time reflecting on how you would have really felt being there, seeing your friend Jesus again, whom you had seen die not long before and laid in a tomb…

Now listen once more as the passage is read a second time. Notice what really strikes you this time…

“You are witnesses of these things”. How can you be a witness to these things? Who could you share all this with today? Take a moment to offer your witnessing to the Lord…

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.