Do you believe in ghosts? Horoscopes? Tarot Cards? Shirley MacLaine and road lizards with high IQs? UFOs that always land in New Mexico or some backwoods peckerwood’s pasture in Alabama and never in, say, Belize? Do you know without a doubt that there is super-intelligent life out yonder in one of God’s far-flung universes? If so, fine. It’s a free cosmos.
I’ve often been insulted by snarky non-believers who say they can’t believe I believe in someone they like to mock as an “invisible friend.”
An invisible friend like Jesus Christ, that is.
I ask them if they believe in things like ghosts, Horoscopes and UFOs from space and such. Or psychics. I’ve always noticed that a lot of militant atheists really believe in psychics, who mostly are con artists.
And then there’s the star of stage, screen and television Shirley MacClaine. Her kind are just “out there.” With the Martians.
Almost every time, the intolerant nonbelievers believe in some kind of nonsense like ghosts or space beings who — for some peculiar reason — always appear in, or hover around in their spaceships, in New Mexico or backwoods Alabama and never in, say, San Ignacio, Belize.
I see a lot of drones here in San Ignacio now, invading my privacy. I’ve never seen a UFO anywhere in my life, anywhere I’ve lived or traveled in a lot of traveling.
Honestly, I don’t understand why so many scientists (like the loquacious, ubiquitous entertainer Neil-what’s-his-face) and lay science geeks are absolutely, positively convinced without a doubt that there MUST be intelligent life out there in one of the universes.
When they have no evidence of it.
None.
Well, anyway …
The pollsters are always reminding us that a (disturbing) number of Christians want to believe in ghosts so much that, well … they believe in ghosts.
Ghosts are entertaining, with their stories best told, read or viewed in the night.
The Gospels are about the light of the world; they aren’t found in the entertainment sections of your film and book stores.
Sometimes it seems people, who just can’t get themselves entertained enough in this age of celebrity and endless entertainment, believe more in ghosts than in the living Jesus.
When the resurrected Jesus returned to the Upper Room to visit the scared and confused disciples, he didn’t even so much as say Hello. “Peace be with you,” he said.
Which brings us (alas!) to the Gospel reading for the upcoming 3rd Sunday of Easter, from Luke 24:36b-49.
This scripture describes the event in which the dazed and scared disciples are holed up in the safety and comfort of the Upper Room. Suddenly — Eek a freak! — in comes a ghost(?) who looks just like you-know-who!
I submit that this is one of the most significant scriptures in all the Gospels. For it’s in this post-ressurection appearance that Jesus persuades the boys he’s back in all his glorious flesh and blood, that he’s not a ghost.
It’s important because it sums up the entire Good News as follows:
— It’s about how we can count on Jesus for peace in our constant, human state of fear, worry and anxiety.
— It’s about how Jesus rose from the dead and was so real before his ascension that he remains real, fully present and available to us through the Holy Spirit, who is not a ghost.
— Jesus says, “Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself.” His scarred body bears witness to the suffering he endured. His scars also happen to assure that time and faith heal all wounds.
When we weep, he weeps. When we suffer, he suffers. He’s been there.
When we suffer, he suffers; when we weep, he weeps. He’s been there. The Gospels tell us that Jesus felt such deep compassion — and compassion is a word literally meaning “to suffer with” — that he felt it literally in his bowels.
— The scripture is another “Great Commission” in which Jesus commands us not just to know and understand his life, ministry and resurrection, but also to get out of the safety and comfort of our Upper Rooms and bear witness to the Big News!
And not just to those in our neighborhood, state, nation or hemisphere. We’re to teach and, more importantly, embody the Good News everywhere.
The Good News is not local news: it’s universal.
This scripture from Luke is worthy of much study, reflection and discussion because it describes an event that “opened the minds” of his disciples.
It has the power to open our minds to this day.
In addition, it’s a reminder of certain realities we have to face.
One being that there is no such thing as a ghost.
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New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 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.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and 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.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Excellent post, Paul. I guess I hadn’t thought about the number of non-believers who readily take up the cross (figuratively speaking, of course) for any number of half-baked philosophies to explain existence.
On my to-read list is Hugh Ross’s Improbable Planet, recommended by a friend. The book is said to detail just how many things had to come together in order for life to exist on Earth. When one considers that if the Earth were, say, a million miles closer or farther away, or didn’t have the current mix of atmosphere (or something very close to it) and any number of other crucial factors, one begins to realize there likely aren’t thousands of other planets out there capable of life. There may be, but at this point we have no evidence.
Instead of trying to unravel things far beyond my comprehension, I’m better of sticking with following the message put forth in the gospels.
Thanks. And yes, 99 percent of the nonbelievers I challenge believe in something like ghosts or psychics or all in with astrology. And so many so desperately want to believe in intelligent life out there which is possible — but it’s not really “probable.” And what makes them so sure it’s higher intelligence anyway?It might be planets with life more like something like mud. I don’t get it.
Try me, Paul. No woo-woo, ghosts, or ANYTHING supernatural!