We're not told, really, just exactly what happened in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are told, of course, that he rose from the dead. We're just not told exactly how his re-constitution took place, and exactly what form he took.

The Easter season Gospel readings share with us a series of stories of how people experienced the risen Christ. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus walks through walls and yet his hands, feet and side are still marked with the piercings of the Crucifixion. Is he flesh? Is he spirit? Is he both? We're not told.

Most of his followers are simply overjoyed to be with him again. Thomas insists on touching the nail marks of Jesus' hands, and putting his hand into Jesus' side, before he will believe. When Jesus grants Thomas' request, Thomas is moved to what is perhaps the first recorded instance of worship of the risen Lord: "My Lord and my God."

The risen Christ is just as unpredictable as Christ incarnate. There is no formula that can be used to set guaranteed expectations. Perhaps this is the point of the writers of the Gospels. We are to learn that we never know where we can expect to encounter Jesus Christ --- what form he will take, and whether it will be similar to any experience we have had before. Jesus can come to us in the face of a friend, enemy, stranger or companion. He can come to us as a rich person, poor person, beautiful person, or broken person. He can come to us in spirit or in the flesh, directly or via a messenger.

The good news is that Jesus relentlessly reaches out to us. Our challenge is to be able to have open eyes to see his hand, and a courageous heart to take it.

The season of Easter calls us into the mission of the church. And in today's Gospel when Jesus appears to the disciples he does not do so just to give them a spiritual "high five" to celebrate his resurrection, but he commissions them to continue his ministry.

"As the Father has sent me, so I send you," Jesus tells his followers. "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

I don't know about you, but after watching "The Passion of the Christ," I don't know if being told "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" would sound too appealing to the disciples. But Jesus is indeed sending his followers into peril as well as triumph. They are sent first and foremost to continue the liberation from sin that Jesus unleashes with his resurrection, and to continue to allow Jesus to surprise and bewilder people with his unpredictable, reckless compassion.

We are called to do the same --- to spread the message of forgiveness from sins launched so powerfully on Easter Sunday. We are called to be channels for this liberation. Jesus continues to reach out to us and through us to a waiting world.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.