I don’t know if you have any phobias but I do not like spiders! I never have done although I think the huge one that ran over my shoulder as a ten year old, whilst I was in the car with my Dad driving down the motorway at 70 mph did rather finish me off. (Mind you, it is to my Dad’s credit that the scream I emitted at the time did not cause him to lose control of the car and so finish us all off!). The psychoanalyst, Freud suggested a deep seated reason for a fear of spiders but it is not appropriate to say in a family service. I will tell anyone interested afterwards what Freud thought! Anyhow, I have just moved flat and my new home has rather an abundance of spiders. So far, on average I have dealt with about 3 a day. I know I am being a baby but I don’t like it! The result is that I am always keeping an eye out for anything moving, or dark shapes sitting on the skirting board. The trouble is that half the shapes I swoop on turn out not to be spiders at all, but dirty marks or shadows. I am seeing spiders in places where there are no spiders. It is an illusion.
The Resurrection stories, and the one we have heard from Luke today is no exception to this, all tell us how the first disciples and friends of Jesus were being scared by shadows and living under illusion. They could not see the reality that Jesus had been raised from the dead. In part this was because they were conditioned to think in a certain way, like I am conditioned to think anything small and dark is a spider on the loose. The disciples, like all Jews were expecting a Messiah –they thought he would be one who would sort the Romans out and rule justly, and champion the cause of the Jews. They thought they had found their man in Jesus. And they tried to put their money where their mouth was by backing him. So when he got murdered their whole lives fell apart. That was it, their hopes and dreams crushed and broken. They thought they knew how the story went and therefore the story had come to an end. They had been wrong about Jesus, he was not the Messiah they had been waiting for, so, in the resurrection they were repeatedly being confronted with a reality that was for them unexpected: Jesus had come back from the dead. He was alive! They did not understand that and so were still seeing bogeymen in the shadows and missing the point that Jesus had risen and all that that would mean.
The trouble is that we do know what happened to Jesus and why, and, as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Imagine if you thought you knew the ending to a story and it turned out differently. Take Goldilocks and the 3 bears for example. I guess you all know that story, but actually it didn’t quite happen as it is usually told: The bears came back all right from their trip out and went to the dining table to sit down for breakfast. Daddy Bear said ‘Who’s been eating my breakfast?’ and Baby Bear said ‘Who’s been eating my breakfast?’ and Mummy Bear said ‘Oh don’t be so silly, I haven’t even made the breakfast yet!’ That is not the ending we were expecting. We are surprised by a twist in the tale.
So it was for the disciples. They expected one thing from Jesus, and when he died they seemed to get another, and yet the reality of what actually happened was totally different again and it was a surprise. Jesus had gone through death and out the other side. What a twist to the tale! They had to get their heads round it. They had to realise that they had missed the point and that their idea of Jesus had largely been based on an illusion. Now it was time to face reality!
Jesus really was alive, he wasn’t a figment of their imagination. He could be touched, he could eat, he could be talked to. He was tangible. Alive. Real. And what a reality! A whole new way of seeing God and relating to him. A whole new way of thinking and being. Throughout his time on earth Jesus had tried to explain it to them but they did not get it. Now, he explains it again and in the light of the resurrection it makes sense. They see! Rejoice and exult with all of your heart. The Lord has taken away any judgement of you. God is in our midst. God loves and saves everyone, no matter how much on the edges, no matter what they have done. The outcast, the lame get healed in the name of Jesus. No shame for anyone. Whatever has gone on before is over – a new start awaits us all. God looks at us all and sings his heart out with joy! In his eyes, because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are all welcome as friends of God.
It is the same events, the same story but given a completely different meaning by Jesus to the one that the disciples had given it. And the disciples believed what Jesus said and it changed them. And it changed those with whom they came into contact. People got healed. People began to live differently; in a countercultural way, sharing their belongings, gifts and time. They studied the Scriptures, spent time in prayer, trying to understand how to follow Jesus, how to relate to a God that they were suddenly seeing in a new way. And they were prepared to stand up and be counted as Christians. They were witnesses.
I wonder whether our familiarity with the Resurrection stories has led us into complacency. Maybe we no longer see the surprise, the wonder, the power, the challenge to live differently to how the world expects us to, the totality of commitment that God calls from us, the radical nature of being a Christian. And the love and joy that God has for each of us. We, too, are his witnesses. Maybe we need to re-experience the impact of the message of Easter in order to be better witnesses.
In front of you there is a little picture (on the right here). What do you see? It is one of those illusion pictures where there is another picture hidden. There is another reality to the one which immediately strikes the eye. Take it home with you. Look for the other reality and let it remind you, however much it may feel like an illusion, of the reality of the resurrection and the promise of new life in Jesus, and of his call for us to grasp it, follow him and be witnesses for Him in our lives today.
Susie