Do you recognize the risen Lord?

Easter brings with it an abundance of natural joy and reason for
celebration. The love of God poured out for us through the Incarnation,
the life, the death and now the resurrection, which today we
commemorate, of Jesus of Nazareth is made known in the most powerful
ways. The resurrection is a focal point of our faith, without which the
crucifixion would have no more meaning than the another innocent man
executed by the state. The Incarnation, the entering of God into the
world as one like us, which we commemorate at Christmas, is another
focal point — a calling to mind God’s humility and care for us. So much
does God love us that God entered our world as one like us. Now that is
love!

One of the things that the Scripture has called my attention to this
Easter is the number of ways the friends and disciples of Jesus do and
do not recognize the risen Lord. Have you ever noticed that? Why is it
that? What were they expecting to see? What are we expecting to see?

The message from God — sent by, literally, “messengers from God” — is
“Do not be afraid” (Matt 28:5), “Do not be amazed” (Mark 16: 6), “Why
do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) and “Why are you
weeping?” (John 20:13). There is, at first glance, a lot of confusion
and the need for a messenger from God to begin to clarify the situation,
reset the context, for it had only been a few days since the Lord was
crucified. He was supposed to be dead, or so they thought.