Ever Seen a Ghost?

Once as a teenager I saw something that I can’t logically explain other than to imagine it might have been a ghost. I wasn’t hallucinating and it scared me to death! I don’t tell that too often, basically because Christians don’t talk about ghosts too much.

There’s no shortage of them in scripture, though. For example, Saul goes to see the witch of Endor in 1 Samuel 28 and she channels up a dead Samuel for him. I’d be willing to bet a small corner of the farm that your pastor has never preached on that passage! Over in the gospels the disciples confuse Jesus for a ghost on more than one occasion. And Jesus tells them in Luke 24.39, “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.”

The Bible doesn’t skirt the issue, and Jesus partly defines what a ghost is by saying what a ghost isn’t. The point of the passage is that Jesus is showing himself as a real body, resurrected, back from the dead. They thought he was a ghost, so he let them touch his hands and feet. They remained skeptical, so he did something no ghost could do – he ate a meal with them. Broiled fish to be exact.

With a human, bodily action, Jesus opened their eyes to a new realm of possibility. They were in joy and disbelief. And I’m left to wonder if maybe, just maybe, their joy and disbelief is something we might borrow as we ponder our modern day living? How can we remain daily dullards in light of the resurrection of Jesus? Do your eyes need to be opened to impossibilities of life that God can make possible? Have you lived too long without the sense of wonder, joy, and even disbelief that God can do anything?

Perhaps our faith might be better lived if we thought we’d just seen a ghost!

Squinting at the mirage,
Pastor Gary

Long Story, Short is a column I write to get you thinking about the sermon on Sunday. I preach at First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg, Maryland and if you’re around at 10:30 on Sunday mornings, join us there for worship. You can find other stories about life, love, and levity at my blog To the Lees.

Luke 24:36b-48

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’* 37They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39Look 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.’ 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.* 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then 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, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah* is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.