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. Luke 24:39
Commons
These words should shock you: “God is dead.” Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote these famous words in criticism of morality and religion. He wrote, “the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable,” and everything that was “built upon this faith, propped up by it, grown into it,” including “the whole of our European morality,” is destined for “collapse” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). But we believe that God is not dead; indeed, we believe that Christ is alive. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus made it abundantly clear that He was physically there with them–fully present, a living man. Not a ghost, but fully alive. The apostles could see and touch Him.
What does the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus mean to you? One way to consider this question is to consider what your life might be like if Jesus hadn’t been raised from the dead. St. Paul gave us two crucial points on this: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Without the Resurrection of Christ, our faith would be empty and our sins would remain with us. If we prayed to a God who was dead–not alive–what would be the point? Our faith would be futile, without meaning. Also, we would still be culpable for our sins and would have to pay for them ourselves. The price of our sin is eternal death and separation from God: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Truly, God is alive, as St. Paul testified in refutation of the idea that God is dead. We are not damned to eternal death as the price for our sin, but we have instead received God’s grace: “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Our faith is not futile, but full of meaning and power: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20).
Jesus, the truth of Your Resurrection leaves me amazed and incredulous with joy (Luke 24:41). You are not dead; You are truly alive, our Risen Lord.