Thinking again about Christ in the context of Easter – which, I suppose, is the only context in which he makes sense – we need to keep the three parts of this event together: the Last Super Eucharist, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Only then will we begin to understand. This is what the texts indicate. The disciples on the way to Emmaus only come to understand the meaning of the Resurrection in the act of breaking bread. Thomas can only begin to believe the reality of the Resurrection in the context of the experience of the Crucifixion. The Easter triple event is a chiasma, a cross over point, where Jesus of Nazareth becomes the Christ. Jesus’ life, his teaching, the training of disciples, his interactions with others, healings, his arguments and controversies with opponents, all lead up to this point – his death, or his glorification, as St. John insisted on calling it. He intimated that he was the Christ, the Messiah, and while for some Jews this would signal the beginning of the end of time, for Jesus this was never so. He pointed to a beyond, a time when he would not be present with his followers in the flesh, a new time when they would be guided by his Spirit.
We inhabit our bodies. Through them we express ourselves and communicate with others. No body, no communication. This is vividly brought home to us when we come across those who suffer from the locked-in syndrome, those whose body, either through accident or disease, is completely paralysed. No body, no habitation, no communication. At the cena on the evening before his death Jesus made a little ceremony, offering bread and wine as his body and blood. Perhaps it seemed a bit strange to his disciples, their reaction is not recorded, and I don’t suppose they understood what he was on about then. As a human being Jesus would have died one day anyway. As it was the forces he had provoked by his teaching, and simply by being the sort of person he was, could not tolerate his continued presence among them. He was going to be executed, and Jesus knew this. Hence the little ceremony at the cena. Understanding would come later. He was preparing them for the Resurrection.
The crucifixion on Calvary was a devastating event. The sudden and violent death of one so loved, in whom so much hope was invested, was so traumatic that his disciples retreated into themselves, withdrew and hid. Perhaps they would be next. They were not prepared for that. Then came Easter morning and everything changed.
Whether Jesus’ human body disappeared from the tomb and appeared to the disciples over the next few weeks is not the main point. The texts describing these experiences are obviously catechetical documents designed to elicit faith in new disciples. The important point is that now the disciples became aware of the bodily presence of Christ in the broken bread of the Eucharist – a presence so powerful that it did what the human presence of Jesus prior to his death never did – it transformed them.