COLLEGE CHAPLAIN

The Question We’re All Asking

Devastating bushfires, ravaged supermarket aisles, crippling pandemics. 2020 has so far been the year where more than ever we have been asking ‘What’s next?’ Our world feels in a state of flux and you often overhear seismic questions like ‘Will things ever be the same again?’ ‘Will our economy, our hospitals, or our tourism ever recover?’

Similarly, seismic questions were surely being asked by Jesus’ disciples when he arrived in their living room on that first Easter Sunday. They think they are seeing a ghost. So Jesus says ‘Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have’ (Luke 24:39). Then as the disciples see and touch Jesus in disbelief, he asks for something to eat. They give him a piece of fish and you can just imagine the pin drop silence as Jesus munched on that morsel of fish, swallowed it and then looked up at their stunned faces. I’d like to think that maybe he even hiccupped just for good measure.

After eating like a relative, Jesus gives the disciples a roadmap for what’s next, a way out of this crisis of confusion. He begins by going backwards: ‘He told 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”(v44). Then Jesus finishes by outlining that now the world needs to hear about this cataclysmic event, but he won’t be delivering it. That is what’s next.

We began to map what’s next for Jesus after Easter in Chapel on Monday as we delved deeper into believing, understanding and receiving as the key steps forward after Easter. As we ask ‘What’s next?’ on a weekly basis, we would do well to remind ourselves of what has been, what is and what is to come as we are find it in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection encounters with his disciples.

This will be our quest each week in our online Chapels on YouTube. I invite you to share in these surprising and curious passages tucked away in our Bibles, for they comfort and empathise with us in times of upheaval.

I look forward to seeing you online at bit.ly/livechapel each Monday morning this term.

Gareth Tyndall | College Chaplain