A glimpse into what heaven is like.

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Gospel: Luke 24: 35-48

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,
and how Jesus was made known to them 
in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish; 
he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Have you ever wondered what heaven is like? What the body of Jesus is like now that he’s been raised from the dead? Or, even what our own bodies will be like in the resurrection?

Today’s Gospel provides some answers to these questions, even if it leaves us wanting to know more.

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It begins with the disciples hiding behind locked doors in Jerusalem. The grim reality of Good Friday is still fresh in their minds and hearts. Jesus is gone, leaving them with no real plan moving forward. They’re terrified. 

Stuck. 

What once seemed like a bright and promising future has come crashing down on them. The only strength they have is in numbers; if they are to shiver and grieve, then they will do it together.

Suddenly, the Lord appears in their midst and says to them, “Peace be with you.” 

This is the first word that Jesus says after being raised from the dead – a word he repeats multiple times – peace.

In Hebrew, shalom.

Shalom means, “harmony, wholeness, stillness.” Things the disciples feel totally deprived of. Yet the Lord appears to reassure them that he has, in fact, been raised from the dead! All will be well.

Gently, our Good Shepherd begins leading his friends out of their fears – and eventually out of that locked inner room – into a place of freedom and peace, showing them his glorified body.

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Since his resurrection, the Lord has already demonstrated his ability to locate his disciples and to walk through walls, suddenly appearing in their midst. 

Now Jesus reinforces the physical nature of his body. “Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 

I imagine a few of them poke at his skin, then marvel and joyfully weep as they gently slide their fingers into his wounds. 

The disciples grieve and celebrate. 

They grieve the death of their ideas; Jesus is not who they thought he was. He is far more. Meanwhile, they also celebrate his triumph over death, as they slowly begin to understand.

The Lord is physical, yet spiritual. Human, yet divine. Once dead, now alive. Seeing him allows them to see what their own future holds. 

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In his book, Surprised By Hope, the renowned biblical scholar NT Wright argues that, in the resurrection, God has redeemed all of creation. 

He echoes what Saint Paul says, “All things were created through Christ, all things were created for him… in him everything continues in being.”

Meaning, everything, and hopefully everyone, God has created – even our favorite pets – will enter into eternal life, making heaven a place that will be utterly familiar… yet utterly new.

Imagine the bluest waters. The brightest sunrise – orange kissed in pink, red, and gold. A place where the lion lays down with the lamb, the deepest valleys are covered in lush green grass, the highest mountains tower over us – yet we can climb them all. 

Heaven is a place where our bodies are no longer bound by aches, age, or death. As the prophet Isaiah foretells, “They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not grow faint.”

As the Apostle John describes in the Book of Revelation, heaven is, “radiant and clear as crystal, a city with twelve gates and high walls, protected by angels.”

A place where every tear is wiped away; where there is no more wailing, pain, or death. A place for the poor in spirit, the merciful, the peacemakers, the clean of heart, those whom Jesus calls in his first public sermon, “blessed.”

“Peace be with you,” he says. “You have faith in God. Have faith also in me. In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places.” 

There’s a place for the Apostles now weeping joyfully in Jerusalem. A place for you. A place for me. A place where we shall, “run and not grow weary. Walk and not grow faint.”

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Perhaps these thoughts leave more questions than answers. 

Still, today we’re urged to rejoice in the words of Saint Paul, “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him.”

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Image credits: (1) The Bible Study (2) The Doubting of St. Thomas, Caravaggio (3) AM FineArtPrints