Dear Friends,
As April in the north is awash with drenching spring rains,
the Easter season Gospel narratives are awash with the revelation of the God of
Surprises. An experience threaded through many of these accounts is that the disciples did not initially recognize
the Risen Jesus. They had to learn to recognize Him in His new, risen way
of being.
On Easter Sunday morning in John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalen
encountered Jesus in the garden outside the empty tomb. She thinks he is the
gardener. “Woman,” He says to her,” for whom are you looking?” (John 20.15) But
when He says her name, she does recognize Him. We recognize Him when he says our name. The voice may be that of another person, but the one who
calls us by name is the Risen One.
In Luke, Cleophas and
his companion, are walking dejectedly back to Emmaus, when a stranger joins
them. With him they had a revelatory
conversation, but they were still clueless. It was only at the supper table
that the God of Surprises “took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to
them “(Luke 24.30) did they recognize Him. We
recognize Him in the breaking of the bread at Eucharist and wherever/
however the Eucharist is experienced in our daily lives.
Finally, once again in John, the disciples went fishing.
They had had enough of being cooped up in the city, so they went back to
Galilee to fish. “All night long, they caught nothing” (John 21.3). At dawn,
they saw a man on the beach, but they didn’t know it was Jesus. He prompted
them to cast their nets over the other side once more, and they caught an
abundance of fish. One of them realized who the man was. We need to trust when one of us recognizes Him.
All of these same encounters
with the God of Surprises are given to us in our day. The Risen Jesus walks
with us in our hearts, our mindfulness, in our loved ones and in the stranger.
New realizations are given to us as we celebrate Eucharist and hear His word in
the mouth of a stranger or loved one. The God of Surprises “easters” in us.
As part of today’s blog, I offer you three images of the
Gospel texts we spoke of above. They form a triptych in the sanctuary of Our Lady Of Lourdes
Church, in Brighton (Rochester) New York, the work of well known Rochester
artist Dick Kane. The artist caught the delight, the joy in these moments of
recognition. Look only at the smiling faces of everyone depicted, including
Jesus.
May your face image their joy when you meet the Risen Lord
in your everyday world.
~Sister Joan Sobala
