Thursday in the First Week of Easter

Do you like ghost stories? Try this one. After a little boy was tucked into bed by his father, the child said, “Daddy, I’m scared, there’s someone under my bed.” His father stroked the boy’s cheek and replied, “I don’t think so, but I’ll take a look just to be sure.”He got down on his hands and knees and looked underneath. Startled, he saw his little boy staring back at him,  who whispered, “Daddy, I’m scared, there’s someone on top of my bed.”  

Jesus startled his disciples when he suddenly appeared in their midst. Was it really the Lord? It looks like Jesus, but he passes through closed doors and appears or disappears at will, like a ghost. One of the earliest heresies in Christianity taught that the body of Jesus only seemed to be real, not only after the resurrection but before it, during his whole life.¹

It was in the breaking of the bread, and sharing meals with his disciples, and letting them touch him, and showing them the wounds of his crucifixion that they came to recognize with amazement and joy that it really was Jesus and not a ghost.

St. Peter who saw and believed, looked with envy at our faith writing in his first letter, “Without seeing him you love him, without seeing him you believe.” Yes, we are witnesses that Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead, is the Son of God who puts to flight all evil spirits, ghosts and demons forever.

1. Docetism heresy