It is I Myself!
Luke 24:36b-48
A couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out from a cold winter, so they made a reservation at the hotel where they had stayed for their honeymoon. Due to schedules, the husband flew down first, the wife to follow. Just after he left, the wife saw he had left his computer.
The husband checked in and sat down to a computer at the hotel to send an email to his wife that he had arrived safely and all was ready. Unfortunately, he left out a letter in her email address, unknowingly sending his note to an elderly widow who had just returned from her husband’s funeral. When the bereaved widow checked her email, she screamed, I can’t believe this, and fainted. It read:
To: My loving wife. I know you are surprised to hear from me. They have computers here, making it convenient to email loved ones. I have been checked in and I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! P.S. It sure is hot down here!
We know from our own painful experiences that death feels very final. No one is supposed to return from it, except perhaps as what some might think are ghosts. So, we can understand how the first disciples were “startled and frightened”, thinking that they were looking at what appeared to be a ghost. And even after being reassured, the scripture says they still had a hard time believing it. Just think of those joyful and amazing happenings when you have been totally surprised, and hearing yourself say: I can’t believe this!
Here we find Luke going to great effort to dispel any doubts that Jesus was resurrected and real in fulfillment of Scripture. Jesus was no apparition or spirit. He was not a figment of their imagination. These disciples witnessed something so miraculous that it would change our whole view of life and death and God’s presence in the world.
Jesus declares: It is I myself! I’m not a ghost – it’s really me! And when Jesus took fish and ate in their presence, they began to understand that this was not going to be just another religion or philosophy. Jesus was not simply a martyr for a cause or a great teacher to follow. No, this was a new reality and power unleashed like the world had never seen, and it would change lives forever.
A speaker at a national conference offered an example of how we can be so caught up in the realities of life and the responsibilities of “doing” church that we might neglect the incredible claim of the gospel to the new reality found in the risen Jesus.
Imagine two people passing in the parking lot on a Sunday morning. One was just leaving worship service; the other, not much of a church goer, was there to pick someone up…
“Hey! Good to see you! How was church?”
“Great! Awesome!”
“What did you learn? How did it change your life, strengthen your faith?”
“Great. Awesome.”
The speaker was making the point that Jesus is not a spiritual placebo. He’s great and awesome because He is the same Jesus who shows us the Scriptures fulfilled, and challenges us to get real and serious about the incredible claim of Easter on our lives.
After Jesus said: It is I, myself, He showed his hands and feet. They would have seen that He is the same Jesus who suffered on a cross, his wounds showing them the cost of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
Because He is not a ghost, death and hell have lost their hold. Since we have been made witnesses to His amazing and joyful peace and power as both Word and flesh, we can get serious about all that is troubling hearts and causing doubts to rise in minds. With the emergence of what some are calling the “New Religion” of Woke-ism now is the time to get real about giving some of that “Old Time Religion” offered by a real Savior.
Woke-ism, also associated with some manifestations of Cancel Culture, claims to be a means to address injustice and cultural oppression, leading some to call it the “New Religion” of our time. Some churches and denominations have shown solidarity with the movement at various degrees, creating curriculums, for example, to address systemic racism and privilege within church and society. But it is an odd “religion” of casting blame and cultivating ill will among whole groups of people – which raises concerns: This “New Religion” lacks a fundamental truth found in Jesus Christ: forgiveness!
Max Funk, in Converge Media, compared Woke-ism to Christian faith: sin (privilege), righteousness (victimhood) and judgement (cancellation); ritual penance (check your privilege and allyship), piety (kneeling during the anthem, participating in protests).
According to Woke-ism, we who embrace the logic, science, history and reason of Western culture and religion are embracing tools of oppression. We are perpetual “sinners” who perpetuate oppression – and there is nothing we can do about it! There is no real forgiveness offered!
It is not that we do not care about justice or disparity or oppression. These things matter to the Church because they matter to the Savior who offers peace for the troubled hearts and doubting minds of all persons regardless of race, ethnicity or sex. For the Church, solutions must be rooted in Scripture’s witness to Jesus Christ as we seek and discern God’s will.
One writer said that to try to reason with Woke-ism is to fight phantoms – like chasing ghosts. But we do not chase ghosts – we show them Jesus! We, ourselves – with real hands and feet at work, with real fellowship and study of the Scriptures in ways that virtual reality cannot do and Woke cannot offer. With real repentance and forgiveness, we assure them that we are awake to the new reality in Jesus Christ, with God’s promise that it’s not going to be hot where we’re going!