TOMORROW’S SUNDAY

I like to keep an open mind when it comes to ghosts. I think that they might exist because of the way we react to scary films. The fact that we jump out of our seats and get the shivers suggests to me that we have an instinctive response to the supernatural, which must be there for a reason. But other than that I have no further evidence. If I wanted to know more I would need to call upon the services of a professional ghost hunter. Ghost hunting, or to give it its’ proper name Psychical Research, is a serious endeavour. The stated aim of the Society of Psychical Research is ‘to conduct organised scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models’, and many distinguished scientists can be found among its members. However, the findings of the society haven’t always been conclusive and are frequently controversial. That said, despite years of argument, their methods of investigating remain the same with notebook and pencil still being vital bits of kit. These have been added to with more sophisticated instruments such as Electromagnetic Field Meters and Motion Detectors. I wonder, however, what our ghost hunters would make of our reading from Luke’s Gospel tomorrow, where Jesus appears to his disciples despite having been buried a few days before. In that passage they are convinced they are seeing a ghost until he invites them to touch him and eats a piece of fish before them. It’s clear that he yet has flesh and bones though his disciples can’t believe for joy (Luke 24 verse 41). The fact of the matter is that, in the Resurrection of Jesus, we are seeing something unparalleled in history, something beyond what can be measured by science. He has a body, yes, though it is a body, which is similar yet different to ours, having the ability to be touched yet also walk through walls and disappear at will. It is, as St Paul describes it, ‘a spiritual body’ and it is more real than ghosts or even we ourselves.