Promises

  

Text: Luke 24:36-49

Focus: Easter

Function: to celebrate our redemption

³⁶While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Happy Easter to the beloved children of God.

Today we are going to look at the wonder and amazement that the early believers felt when they realized that death could not hold Jesus captive.

The context of our text takes place with two of the disciples who were not among the twelve, but apparently close followers of Jesus who witnessed Jesus’ death and were grieving at their loss so they choose the 30 mile trek home to Emmaus, their home, because they thought this whole thing with Jesus was over after they killed him.

While they were walking, Jesus himself appears to them and enjoins a conversation with them and he asks them why they are grieving.

They are amazed that someone leaving Jerusalem didn’t know what happened so they told him that they killed this great man who was most certainly a prophet or better.

And Jesus patiently listens to them while they grieve during their 8-12 hour trek home. Jesus starts talking to them about all the prophecies in the Old Testament about him and starts explaining to them a different way of understanding how these prophecies were going to turn out. He explains how he fulfilled them without starting a war.

They enjoy the conversation in a deeply spiritual and compelling way. Later on, when they remember it, they describe that there was something inside of their hearts that was persuading them to listen and not argue.

They said that their hearts were burning inside of them as they listened. Jesus set their hearts on fire and gave them a spiritual understanding that they didn’t have before.

Up until this point, all they knew of Jesus was that he was a fellow traveler. They make the 30 mile trek with him and arrived at their home. In typical mid-eastern spirituality, they welcomed this stranger and served him a meal.

And when Jesus broke the bread, they finally realized that it was indeed Jesus who had been talking with them. Suddenly Jesus vanishes.

They knew it was a miraculous sighting so instead of resting, they left their home, by now it is evening, and make the 30 mile trek back to Jerusalem to tell the twelve.

After they get into the room and tell the twelve, Mary, the first witness to the resurrection confirms their story and reiterates her story of seeing Jesus early in the morning at the tomb.

Everyone in the room was wondering just exactly what was happening and suddenly Jesus himself appears to them in the room and declares that he is risen from the dead. That is where out story begins today.

Now, it appears from the biblical account that Jesus’s body had a different appearance after he rose from the dead. His hands and his feet and his side still bore the wound marks from his murder, but the rest of him looked different enough that they didn’t immediately recognize that it was him.

That doesn’t take away from the miracle or the fact of his resurrection. The scars proved who he was but I find hope in the fact that he had a different appearance that has divine attributes> We too will have glorified bodies.

I suspect that the main reason they didn’t recognize him was not that he was that different looking but that they simply weren’t looking for him.

To them, death is final. Although the scripture reports that they witnessed Jesus raising a few other people from the dead, the one who did the work was gone and they seemed to be left without hope.

Except for God and God’s promises.

Jesus had tried to tell them what was happening but resurrection just wasn’t in the wheelhouse of their understanding. It isn’t natural.

And maybe the revelation of Jesus to Mary is a clue. She, when she saw Jesus thought he was the gardener and thought he might know what happened that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

And in that story it isn’t until Jesus addresses her by name and she realizes that a stranger cannot know who she is so it must be the Lord.

And although Jesus was talking with them and trying to convince them that he was the same person. He even invited them to touch his still visible wounds and eat in front of them so that they would know he was real and not a ghost, they didn’t understand.

Until. They didn’t understand until the Spirit of God opened their minds to believe.

The text says the Holy Spirit opened their understanding and they believed. The Spirit leads us to Jesus and fulfills the promises of God to us.

I imagine the joy that they must have felt when the realization dawned on them.

I wonder if Mary was relieved that others finally believed her story as well. God choose a woman to be the first witness to the resurrection. Perhaps because she was deeply spiritual and seeking after God. In her seeking, God filled her with answers.

This Easter, and always, let us rest in the hope and the promise of the resurrection.