Luke 24:44-53

 Luke 24:44-53

We cannot understand what the scriptures mean apart from the resurrected Christ.  This is the second time since the resurrection that Luke specifically points out that Jesus explains the Old Testament as pointing to Him.  First to the other two disciples on the road to Emmaus where “He opened their minds…” to understand the scriptures.  This didn’t happen during the three years of ministry but in the forty days after the resurrection.  That gives us a picture of the centrality of the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.

While it is true that the Bible gives us insight for practical living, that is not the point of Scripture.  The Bible has wonderful wisdom for marriage, family, wealth management and a host of other issues.  These are, however, secondary.  They are implication or applications of the central truth.

The central truth is that Jesus Christ had to suffer, die, and be resurrected in order that His disciples could preach/proclaim/tell about repentance and forgiveness of sin to the whole world.  We are sent by the Father and empowered by the Father.  The message of the Gospel is not our subjective experience, not how we feel or what we think, it is most certainly not about how to live the good life now.   It is the death and resurrection of Christ and the repentance and forgiveness we can have in Him. 

The understanding of what we call the great commission is profoundly impactful in the way we live.  The disciples we see coming to Jerusalem, the ones we see during the passion, at the crucifixion and on Easter morning are somewhat pathetic.  But  after the Great Commission while far from perfect they are bold, worshiping and joy filled.  Let us repeat this pattern.  The Resurrection means everything.

“Lord, help me to live daily in the Resurrection. AMEN”

Luke 24:36 - 43

 Luke 24:36 - 43

Few things are more universally feared then meeting a ghost. In almost every culture and at every point in history people are afraid of meeting a ghost.  Even if one doesn't believe in ghosts, meeting one is terrifying. The disciples are in conversation with the two witnesses from Emmaus when as suddenly as Jesus left them at Emmaus He appears in the room in Jerusalem. This sudden appearance produces fright,  trouble in heart and doubt.

How Jesus responds to their emotional reaction is too important to miss. He doesn't teach a lesson on the nature of spirits or if ghosts are real. Nor does He castigate them for their failed belief systems. What He does is to emphasize the reality of the Resurrection. This resurrected person really is Jesus, the same one they have known for these past years. This resurrected person is a physically real person, with scars, and teeth, and a belly that wanted to eat. This resurrected person was everything human and more, with the ability to appear and then be gone instantly and all the while remaining fully tangible and human. A ghost is and does none of these.

Ghostly fears are not just the terror of apparitions.  We find these hauntings of our own lives and mortality to be reminders of the realization that some day we will die and what we are will be no more.  Or worse, we have the ghostly fear that we will be something  worse than nothing, we will be a ghost. The answer to the terror of a ghostly fear is not the denial of the supernatural but to embrace the resurrection of Jesus and then find in His resurrection the hope for our Resurrection. After all, what could frighten the one who has been resurrected? We can live free from every fear by living in the hope of what we shall be in the resurrection.

“Lord, grant that today I will live in the hope of the resurrection. AMEN”

Luke 24 28 - 35

 Luke 24:28 - 35

Having spent two hours talking with and listening to Jesus, all the while unaware of who He was, these disciples reached their destination. Jesus acted as if He would go further. Was Jesus being dishonest? No, but He is giving the disciples the options to invite Him to stay.  Because of His overwhelming love for us Jesus will never impose Himself on us. If they had not invited Him to stay He would have gone on His way  once they had parted company. But note the condescension (in the very best sense of the word) the resurrected Lord would only join them if they wanted it. He is Lord and King but He is also meek and mild.

We also need to consider two ways in which they encountered Christ. First is in the scriptures. As they discussed the scriptures, as they related to the Christ their hearts were burning within them. That word “burning” was used to describe an uncontrollable longing for someone or something. Do we find the time set apart for scripture frustrating because there is not enough time or because it consumes too much of our time from a busy schedule? There was a complaint from a Chinese Christian who lamented that she could only read her Bible for about two hours a day. May our hearts burn for more as we meet Jesus in Scripture.

Jesus also became obvious to them in the breaking of bread. Was this a common meal or a specific expression of the Lord's Supper? For the early church this would have been a non-question because their communion was with a common meal. The point is that in some way we encounter Christ in the communion that we do not experience in any other way. The disciples were caught by surprise in this encounter with Christ.  Had they not shared this meal with Jesus they would have never enjoyed that surprise.  Our failure to participate in the Lord's Supper means that we miss something.  We miss a depth of relationship with our Lord that is available to us, and only available in communion. 

Never forget that any failure to experience the depth of Christ is entirely our failure be that in our missing Him in Scripture or in the Lord's Table.

“Lord, open my eyes to see Jesus. AMEN”

Luke 24 13 - 27

 Luke 24 13 - 27

It was the best 2-hour sermon we will never hear. The seven-mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus would have taken about 2 hours and during that time Jesus would teach two disciples about Himself. The disciples’ confusion formed around a simple enigma: the place of suffering and the role of the Messiah. They apparently believed that as Messiah there would have been an endless progression of one good thing after another. They felt that suffering was inherently contrary to the life of one who was “mighty in deed and word in the sight of God”. 

The statement that God only brings good to us is problematic in that we often misunderstand what is “good”. When we are left to determine what is good we find ourselves in the same confusion as these disciples. We take our definition of good and attempt to apply it to God's authority and action and end up confused. Affluence, personal comfort, and peace are good or so we say, therefore these must be the will of God for us. Poverty, stress and oppression are bad and therefore can't be in the will of God. But what if neither of these two lists are in God's categories of good and bad? What if God's categories of good and bad are determined by our closeness to Him? Anything that distracts us or pulls us away from Him is bad, anything that causes us to focus on Him is good. The disciples and our confusion was/is the inevitable result of thinking our understanding of good is the same as God's good.

Jesus' response to their confusion was to go to the scriptures. Beginning from Moses Jesus pointed out how all the scriptures pointed to the suffering servant. Two hours would hardly have been enough time to address every Old Testament passage, but it was enough time to reach the heart of these disciples. How often we fail because we do not point to Christ through the scriptures. We appeal to books, psychology, authors, wise men, cultural traditions, and councils but we fail to do what Jesus did, “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained..."

Lord, grant me the wisdom to look to Your Word to see the Christ. AMEN”

Luke 24:1 - 12

Luke 24:1 - 12

Verse 11 of this passage sums up the entire challenge of the Gospel, of evangelism, and discipleship. The women, having seen the empty open tomb and having heard the message of the Angels report this to the 11 apostles and the others who followed Jesus. In verse 11 Luke uses a word found nowhere else in the New Testament. It is translated “nonsense” in the NASB it is also translated “silly” and other versions. According to scholars this Greek word was used by doctors of that time to describe the mad ravings caused by a fever. This report of the women seemed to be like the ranting of a person delirious from an illness. What the women reported seemed to the apostles to be disconnected from reality. Call it delusion, madness, delirium, or hallucinations, what they reported seemed to be unworthy of belief.

The reaction of Jesus's followers to these reports which made no sense was predictable, “they would not believe them”.  This wording is very important.  It was a matter of the will, they “would not believe”. Note the pattern; first they considered the claims of a resurrection to be nonsense and second they chose not to believe. That is the pattern we see repeated over and over throughout history. When confronted with the resurrection there are two choices. Men may choose to believe it is the ravings of mad men and fanatics and having discounted the messengers reject the message of the Resurrection. The other option is to accept the testimony of those who claim the resurrection is true and submit to the implications of that resurrection.  This is no subjective personal quest, there is no room for a “what does the resurrection mean to me” kind of nonsense. If the resurrection never happened then so be it, we are free to go and do as we wish. But if the resurrection did happen then we must face the Risen Lord with all which that implies.

“Lord, help me submit my will to believe in You. AMEN”