The Resurrection of the Body

Homily for Thursday in the Octave of Easter

Lines from the English thinker and essayist Thomas Hobbes on human life have become famous. Human life, he wrote, is “nasty, brutish, and short.” When we apply this thought to the life of Jesus, we might come to the conclusion that, at least in this situation, Hobbes was right on the money.

Not all people have the benefits of electricity, clean water, and freedom from devastating diseases. Progress and evolution seem spotty. Irrespective of whether all share in these material blessings, our Easter faith adds an important dimension to human life: what God does for the baptized in Christ signifies that human life is more than any of these material benefits. In light of what Christ has done for us, the Christian proclaims that human life has become beautiful, Godlike, and eternal. This is the new creation we celebrate at Easter.

Yesterday’s passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke, which precedes today’s passage, illuminated the presence of the risen Lord in word, sacrament, and in other people. All of that was done through the medium of an unforgettable and evocative story. We have more of the same today, a story again filled with concrete detail, telling us much more than a theological treatise on the risen Lord would ever say. The details and specifics today stress the reality of his risen presence, the importance of the physicality of his body. However, St. Luke writes: “But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.” Those who gathered together in the upper room after the passion and death of Jesus have yet to grow into a mature Easter faith.

It is our Easter faith that makes it possible for us to gather around the table of the Lord in worship and adoration as well as communion with the body and blood of Jesus. Without Easter faith, the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist makes no sense. In order for Jesus to leave behind this Sacrament, he had to both die and rise again. Let us continue to help our faith mature and grow as we participate in the Eucharist this morning.