Acts 3:13-15, 17-19/ 1 John 2:1-5a/ Luke 24: 35-48
I am sure we know what a horror movie is.
Horror movies have become more horrible ever since the days of the Dracula movies.
The present production of horror movies are certainly scarier, more blood, very gory, and of course we get more nightmares because they dig into our primal fears.
It is strange that people would go and watch a horror movie and get scared out of their wits.
And then there are those movies that touch on the supernatural.
What I am talking about are movies about ghosts. These are not as horrible as those horror movies but still it can be a bit scary.
Yet, one of the movies about ghosts that has some kind of corny humour was the movie “Ghostbusters”.
Maybe we can’t remember much about the movie but we may be able to remember the theme song.
"There is something strange in the neighbourhood, who you gonna call…. Ghostbusters"
Yet, the things of the supernatural are not a joke, and they are no laughing matter.
I guess we have also heard enough of ghost movies to make us afraid of the dark.
And we may have also seen some ghost stories about how the spirit of a person comes back as a ghost to haunt and take revenge.
Whatever it may be, this fascination about ghosts and spirits certainly goes a long way back in time.
The gospel passage was set in the upper room where the disciples of Jesus had locked themselves in guilt and in fear.
It was as if they had watched some kind of horror movie and they were scared to death.
The difference was that the horror was in real-life and they saw how Jesus died a horrible death.
They had two fears: one was that if the soldiers break open the door, then it was their turn to die.
The other fear came from the fact that they deserted Jesus and left Him to die alone and horribly.
That fear was now creating "ghosts" in their minds and that was haunting them and they were getting scared to death.
And then two disciples came in to tell them some "ghost" story about how they saw Jesus on the road.
We must really sympathize with the disciples. There was fear of the outside, and there was fear on the inside, and there was nowhere to run.
So we can imagine when Jesus appeared to them, they were in a state of alarm and fright, in a state of shock, for they thought they were seeing a ghost. And that was how the gospel puts it.
If they could, they would have ran out screaming “Ghost, ghost!” but they couldn’t, there was nowhere to run to.
Actually Jesus was also very smart. He knew they couldn’t run anywhere, so there He appeared to them.
But if the disciples could run, then it would be total chaos, total panic, mega hysteria.
After all, who has ever heard of anyone coming back after he was dead and buried, and after that there some astonishing stories about his appearance here and there.
Yes, who has ever heard of that.
Neither had the disciples, and neither have we either.
All we know is that anything that causes fear and fright is not from God.
And what we will do is that we will sprinkle or even spray holy water at where we saw a dark shadow, and make the sign of the cross and say our prayers loudly, hoping that it would chase the ghost away.
Yes, we can say that anything that causes fear and fright is certainly not from God.
What comes from God is peaceful and joyful.
That was why the first words of Jesus was “Peace be with you”.
And just as Jesus rose from the dead and conquered sin and death, He now wants us to open the closets of our hearts where we have kept the skeletons of our sinful past.
Yes, in the dark closets of our hearts, we have created our own ghosts that keep haunting us and kept us chained in fear and anxiety.
It could have been that we did some injustice that resulted in someone being wrongly accused and punished.
But to save our skin, we let that person take the blame. But it has kept haunting us.
Or it could be that we schemed and sabotaged someone’s project out of envy and jealousy and we gloated with glee with it failed.
As we think about it now, we feel ashamed and our hearts are not at rest.
Or we may have abetted someone to go for an abortion or to terminate a pregnancy.
And now the burden of guilt weighs heavy in our hearts.
There seems to be no way out of our closets or prison of sin and shame and guilt.
Yes, there seems to be no way out. Or is it really no way out?
Jesus rose from the dead not to come and haunt us or to condemn us.
In fact, today, the Risen Lord offers us healing and forgiveness of our sins with these words “Peace be with you”.
The peace of the Risen Christ will heal us and give us the strength to come to terms with our sins, and to go forth and make peace with those whom we have wronged and to seek reconciliation.
The worst horror movies in life are not the ones we see in the cinema, but the very ones we had directed and acted out.
The scariest ghosts are not the ones outside of us, but the ones we have created in ourselves.
Yes, we know that Jesus cast out demons, but Jesus is not just a ghost-buster.
He is our Saviour, our sin-buster. He wants to save us from our sins so that we won’t be haunted by our sins and live in fear.
But first let us open our hearts to His peace. It's a peace that the world cannot give. Because it's a peace that comes from the forgiveness our sins.
And we also must be witnesses of that peace to others.
At least we can begin by saying that if they want peace, then it's better that they stop watching all those horror movies.
And also to stop telling all those ghost stories. It only glorifies the devil.
Instead let us tell the gospel stories, the gospel stories of forgiveness and healing, the gospel stories of God's love that brings peace and joy.