It is the weekend - our first one in May. We have come to the end of Luke’s Gospel and our reading is Luke 24. It is the account of the first Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus. Whether you are reading this on a Saturday or a Sunday it is a glorious reminder of Christ Jesus’ victory over death. After reading, come back and we’ll spend some time thinking some more about it.
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning” is how Luke begins the story of that first Easter. We’ve read Matthew and Mark’s accounts and they all have slightly different variations in telling the story, but they all agree on the fundamental fact - “He is not here; he has risen!” When we begin reading in Luke’s second book next week, we find this is the central message of the church. Peter says, “God has raised Jesus to life; this we are witnesses of” (Acts 3:12). Three days before the women, the disciples, and those who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem stood in stunned silence, weeping and angry, for Jesus hung on the cross until he died. They left disillusioned, grieving, afraid. They had returned to the Upper Room, but locked the doors and kept vigil to make sure the Romans would not seek them out also.
When Sunday came, the women returned to start the process of preparing his body for a proper burial. They found the tomb open, the stone rolled away, and entering into the tomb the body of Jesus was gone. It was while they were in the tomb, Luke says, that two Angels appeared to them and asked them, “Why are you looking for the living (one) among the dead? He is not here; he is risen!” After reminding the women that this is what Jesus had foretold, they rush back to tell the disciples the good news. Except, to the disciples it was unbelievable...dead people don’t come back to life. When Peter returns to the tomb, he sees that it is empty, and notices the linen cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus’ dead body laying there; but all that he can do is walk away “wondering to himself what had happened”.
This the beginning of the resurrection story. Luke tells it similarly to the rest of the Gospels. Mystery, confusion, disbelief, doubt, “what is going on here?” were the primary elements that Resurrection morning. They didn’t return to the Upper Room in faith, but with questions, doubts, and fear (Vs 33). The early saints were not full of faith, but locked themselves behind closed doors and pondered what to do next.
Luke now, tells a story that only appears in his Gospel. That same day, two of the followers of Jesus (not of the 11 remaining disciples) are walking a road that leads them from Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus, a village about 7 miles away. I can assume they were returning because there was no reason to stay.
Like the other followers of Jesus, everything was turned upside-down. Jesus was dead and were “talking to each other about all that had happened”. Luke’s choice of word in Greek is “syzēteō”, a word that implies bantering, going back and forth with thoughts, but not necessarily well organized, rational thinking. They were confused.
Along the road, Jesus comes to them and begins to walk along with them, but for whatever reason, they don’t recognize him...something that I think is of Jesus’ own doing.
Then Jesus speaks, asking them: “What are you discussing (antiballō - throwing back and forth)?” The irony is funny. One of them named Cleopas replied, “Are you the only one that doesn’t know what has happened?” They don’t know what has happened, but the one who does know what happened is standing in front of them.
Jesus goes along with the question, “what things?” It’s not deception, it’s leading them to reveal what they were thinking. They say what all those who followed Jesus had hoped for...that He would redeem Israel by overthrowing Rome. They acknowledge his standing among God’s prophets, but their hopes had been dashed in his crucifixion, and now some crazy story the women had brought about his body being gone, angels telling them that Jesus is alive...it was all too unbelievable to these two returning home. Someone once said, “Hope is like a windowpane. It’s clear enough, but if your focus is off, you can see only what’s behind you.”
In the first of two similar phrases, Jesus says, “how foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the Prophets have spoken...and beginning with Moses and the Prophets he explains what the Scripture - the Old Testament as we know it - said about his life, death, and resurrection.
Later that day, he would use a similar statement to the disciples whom he revealed himself to in the Upper Room where they were hiding (vss 44-45).
It is the word of God that reveals the plan and purposes of God. Why do we not see within it all that God has done and is doing? A cursory reading of God’s word will not get us there. Jesus takes them back to Moses...where in Moses do we see him? Then to the Prophets...where do we see him there? How do the Psalms and the other Wisdom books reveal him? It would take pages to write it all down but think of God who covenants and reveals himself to Abraham, Jacob, then Moses.
Think about the Sacrifices revealed, the Tabernacle worship, the redemption stories (like Ruth and Boaz), the Psalms of David, of confession and forgiveness, and the pages of Prophets describing the human condition and the promise of a “suffering” Messiah. I would love to have been there for that Bible lesson. Jesus was clarifying revelation from mere stories to the truth. He was adjusting their perspective to help them see what God had purposed from the beginning.
In a typical Middle Eastern manner of hospitality, they arrive in Emmaus and invite Jesus to stay and eat with them. As Jesus lifts the bread up and blesses the meal, something happened. All of a sudden the veil is lifted, the focus returns and they can see what is happening...it is the Savior. Jesus is the one who has been with us all along and now they could see him; yet, as soon as they recognize him, he disappeared. They realize, like the women that early morning, they must return to tell the 11 what had occurred. They had left Jerusalem that morning in disbelief but returned full of joy and faith...for they had seen Jesus themselves.
The 11 disciples had stayed in the Upper Room throughout that day, except for Peter (& John) who had gone to the tomb early in the morning to check out what the women had come back to tell them. They had stayed behind closed doors wondering, talking, trying to understand what to do while feeling fear and doubts.
Luke describes it - “while they were talking...Jesus stood among them.” He didn’t enter by knocking on the door, saying “hey guys, it’s me”. Instead he “appeared” among them. As he had disappeared from the two in Emmaus, now he appears to them and the others in the Upper Room.
“They were startled and frightened”...yes, I can understand that. It is all too much of a “what has just happened? moment. Jesus’ greeting is “shalom”...peace. It is how I end these writings...a word of God’s blessings in the midst of life’s doubts and fears. “Shalom, may God be with you.”
They look but are not sure what they are seeing. People don’t walk through walls...appear...disappear. It is the resurrected body they behold and even though they recognize that it is Jesus, something is different. Jesus tells them that it is indeed a body...bones, muscles, tendons...even one that eats and drinks.
Then, as Jesus had done to the two on the road, he takes the disciples back to Scripture - to Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms - to remind them that this is all foretold before.
Luke ends his Gospel as we end our worship services. That first resurrection Sunday ended after they had met with Jesus and celebrated in worship, his life, his victory of death, and his ongoing role as our risen, ascended Savior and King.
Then, as he sent them, he sends us. We should go into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit and bear witness of these things.
Although Luke ends the story with a quick summary of Jesus’ words and his ascension; we will see on Monday, as we begin reading in the book of Acts, that Jesus is not done, he’s only just begun.
Peace
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