Every now and then a high school friend wants to be my friend again on Facebook. When his picture pops up it often takes me a moment to place the face.

It took Mary a few moments to realize the Man behind the voice was really Jesus. Perhaps the mental lag stemmed from shock and awe. Until Jesus, the resurrection was more concept than experiential.

Easter reminds us that it takes a body to make us, us. You don’t know me apart from my face and slight pear shape. There’s no such thing as a disembodied Bill.

The only Bill you know and the only one I’ve ever experienced is a both/and version. I am both body and soul, the eternally spiritual intertwined with the wonderfully created. And so are you.

One of the beauties of Easter is that just like Jesus, one day you’ll get a body that looks like the old you but better. Not the car wreck changed you or the gray-haired wrinkled you. A you without the breakdowns sin causes.

Which means when resurrected me bumps into resurrected you, I’ll recognize you. No need to remind me of your name or dredge up that time we got kicked out of class. If I know you now, I’ll know you then.

Easter is about Jesus leading the way with body and soul forever restored in a way that doesn’t lose the real you but instead makes it better.

Once you, always you. Thanks to Easter. Thanks to Jesus.

He never forgets a face.