From a sermon on the two “admirers” who unknowingly meet Jesus on the Emmaus road:
“However, as they proceed on their way to Emmaus, instructing Jesus along the way, it is remarkable that they do not recognize who he is. We tend to blame them for this, but perhaps we are far too quick. We are not talking ’regular stuff’ here. We are talking about the resurrection. That we expect these two on the way to Emmaus to recognize Jesus shows us how difficult it is for any of us to comprehend the resurrection. No matter how hard we try, it is difficult to shake the picture that the resurrection is the resuscitation of a corpse that we would recognize if confronted by it.
“Of course, that is exactly what the resurrection is not. It is not the resuscitation of a corpse but rather the final eschatological act by God through which the Kingdom stamp is put on this man Jesus as the decisive life for the inauguration of a new age. Resurrection is the reconfiguration of all we know, have known, and will know. It is that which forces a redescription of all history as well as the movement of the plantes. Resurrection is Kingdom come in the person and work of this man Jesus. It is, in the wonderful title of Allen Verhey’s book, The Great Reversal.”
