I read an article in the newspaper last week that interviewed nonbelievers and asked them how they understood Easter. What fascinated me was how much their understanding of Easter was a reflection of who they were. The Crucifixion is a metaphor for the dying self. His death and resurrection point to the awakening of the True Nature. He died as an individual, was reborn in the community.
Resurrection is about the power to influence the world after our death.
A woman who was raised Catholic and eventually left the church told how, when she was a child, Easter was her favorite holiday. It always seemed important. She loved the lilies, the music, but she didn't think much about the resurrection. Then, as she grew, she would ask questions, the whys and hows of the resurrection, and would be told that her questions showed a lack of faith. All of these people have tried to take the message that we receive in Luke 24 and fit it into their little box of understanding and in the process they have taken the life out of the message, or rather, they have not found the life in the message.