Members from both groups gathered in Jerusalem, in the upper room, that evening, though they were very much afraid that the religious leaders might want to arrest some of the more “well known” followers of Jesus. So they had the door closed and locked.
The folks that had gathered had very mixed feelings. Jesus had all but told them that he was the Messiah that would establish God’s kingdom and then rule forever. But the religious leaders had turned him over to the Romans before Jesus could organize an army. Now he was dead. What could they do? They had been such fools to fall under the spell of such a fraud.
But what was all this talk about an empty tomb? Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas, and other women claimed to have seen Jesus alive. Peter and James also claimed to have seen Jesus alive. Even Peter claimed that Jesus had appeared. What did all this mean? What should they do?
Suddenly, around 8 pm, there came a knock on the door. Everyone went silent and looked at each other. But when Cleopas came in, everyone was relieved. When Cleopas told his story, some got excited and again tried to come to an understanding of what all of this meant. Yet most still could not figure out what had happened.
They were about to settle down to eat when they became aware of a presence among them. Everyone backed away from it. Once again the room was suddenly quiet. Superstitious fear gripped many. What sort of spirit might this be? ‘Shalom’, it said. Immediately Cleopas recognized The Christ. ‘Lord’, he said. And then the room filled with whispers. Was this The Christ? What proof is there?
The “spirit”, understood their concern and said, ‘Look at my hands, feet and side, and be convinced.’ And some were. ‘It would have been better if you had faith enough to believe without proofs’, said The Christ.
But some still believed The Christ to be a disembodied spirit, or an illusion, or a hallucination. So The Christ asked if he might join them at meal [because everyone knew that a spirit did not eat solid food]. And as they sat down to eat, The Christ did eat some fish.
Then The Christ tried to open their minds to understand some of what had happened and what must happen.
DAB