Author: Rev. Jean Baptiste Kenol Rock, Ph.D.
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, sanctify me with your truth and guide my thoughts so that you would set me apart for your use and glory. I pray you in the name of the risen Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Good morning, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I gave you homework to do last Sunday, did you do it?
Do you remember the homework? Do you?
The homework was to tell the members of your family, your friends, and your co-workers to believe in the Risen Christ and invite them to worship God with you even once in a while, telling them Jesus is seeking them to bring them Peace and eternal salvation.
In today’s gospel, Luke 24: 36b-48,
Jesus asked his disciples: Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your heart? Jesus does not want his disciples to be troubled or doubts to arise in their hearts. He makes his resurrection clear to his disciples by inviting them to come close to him, see him, touch him, and look at his hands and feet. He said to them, It is myself! Listen, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you I have.
He asked his disciples, do you have anything to eat? They gave him a fish of boil, and he ate it before them. Jesus wants to show them his bodily resurrection; his physical resurrection is a reality, and he could not have made his resurrection very clear than that. There is no mistake: Jesus has been bodily resurrected from the dead.
After many demonstrations from Jesus, the disciples had joy on the one hand, and on the other hand, they still had doubts in their hearts. They were not confident enough to completely believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Luke 24:41, “They still did not believe Jesus was raised from the dead, despite all that evidence.”
This question is for you today: Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your heart? Jesus, your Savior is raised from the dead.
Some women amazed the disciples on the first day of Jesus’ resurrection. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find Jesus’ body. They came and told the disciples that they had seen a vision of angels who said Jesus was alive. Then some disciples went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” Then Jesus met the two disciples on the road of Emaus. He filled their minds with biblical riches, with the Scriptures beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, and explained to them that the Messiah must suffer these things and then enter his glory.
To what extent do you believe in Jesus’s resurrection and his glory?
Although some of you may suffer physically, you may have difficulty sleeping. With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we need to agree with Paul, who said in his letter of Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will repeat it, rejoice.”
With the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, our perishable body, our mortal body, our earthly body will be transformed into an imperishable body, an immortal body, and a heavenly body.
With the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our present body will be transformed from weakness to power, from natural to spiritual, according to the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 15, verses 42-58.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do not let your hearts be troubled; stand firm. Let nothing move you. Believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Always give yourselves to the Lord’s work with passion and love.
Last Sunday, I received a living witness from one of our parishioners, Lita, who said, after the service, that David gave himself entirely to the work of Jesus in this parish, including Mary Morgan and other board members.
I support that witness from my observations as a guest preacher and celebrant.
David and Mary, you inspired me to give myself more and more in the work of Jesus and believe in his resurrection, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Let nothing disturb our belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite our difficulties, let’s continue building our faith in Christ, our unique Savior.
Jesus, our Savior, wants to make sure that you are not troubled and don’t have any doubt in your hearts about his resurrection because you will continue the witnesses of this resurrection to the ends of the earth.
All of us, and all believers, one day we will have a supernatural, immortal, and spiritual body. Together, in Peace and joy, we will worship one triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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