Over and over again, people didn’t recognize Jesus after the resurrection. Mary thought he was the gardener (until he said her name). The disciples on the road to Emmaus thought he was someone who’d just gotten to town and hadn’t heard what was happening (until he broke the bread). His friends on the Sea of Galilee didn’t recognize the man on the beach calling to them (until the miraculous change in their catch of the day). They all had conversations with him (quite extensively, in the case of the Emmaus Road!), heard his voice, saw him. So why didn’t they recognize him? Maybe because he was *something new*, this post-resurrection body, and it was unrecognizable to even his dear friends, at first (even when they knew the tomb was empty, even—in the case of the fishermen—when he had told them he’d meet them there). What was different about this Jesus who had gone through death and harrowed hell to come out alive on the other side? Enough that he didn’t initially seem to be himself. He could apparently walk through walls now, appearing (and disappearing, at Emmaus!) at will among them. What else was changed? What else was possible? So often, we are in the same boat as the disciples—resurrection showing up in various ways in our worlds; us not recognizing those moments for what they are, never expecting they *could* be God present to us. Consider this morning how you might tune in today—to where God is inviting you into conversation, into new awareness, into new possibilities in a world that includes resurrection.

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-05-17 14:54:59 UTC