Resurrection of our Lord

	Word to Life  By Jeff Hensley

This week's great passages of Scripture offer evidence to support the resurrection of our Lord. The 1 Peter passage shows how David pointed to the coming Messiah's being raised from the dead in Psalm 16.

The story of the disciples walking along the road to Emmaus when Jesus appears to them to explain how this was all predicted in the Scriptures is full of the excitement of that post-resurrection appearance.

April 6, 2008 Third Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14, 22-23 Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11 1 Peter 1:7-21 Luke 24:13-35

God revealed that Jesus was coming. After he came, he even took the trouble to explain it to those who followed him, so it would be part of the direct record of revelation itself.

Much in these passages concerns the reliability of the signs God has given. They point to this event in Scripture, and also to the reliability of witnesses to both the divinity of Jesus and his resurrection.

It is still this way today. People want evidence. They want to know that when we talk about God being present in our world we know what we are talking about and that we can back it up with Scripture, but also with our own experience of the Lord's loving presence in our lives.

My friend Jeff Hedglen tells how a couple raised Catholic fell away from God into atheism. But they returned to God when one of their neighborhood friends lost a child to a brain tumor but persevered in faith and hope despite her great grief.

That witness was enough to turn first the wife's stony heart to flesh, then to transform the heart of her husband, won over by his wife's experience and the lively witness of Scripture, specifically the Gospels, which he was reading at his wife's request.

It isn't until he prays toward the end of his reading of the Gospels that God becomes real to him. He becomes as real as he became to the disciples on the road to Emmaus when he joined them for supper and broke bread, revealing himself to be Jesus, risen from the dead.

	For reflection: • Has God made his presence real to you in both the reading of Scripture and the circumstances of your life? • Have you tried praying before you open your Bible to read, asking God to make his Word come alive in your heart?

It's Easter. Anything can happen. Bread and wine become the body and blood of our Lord; atheists become Christians active in ministry to others.

Anything can happen because the most wonderful thing already has happened, and we have witnesses to bear out the truth of it - Jesus is risen from the dead. Alleluia!

This column is offered in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.