Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
We are gathered in fellowship ( “in mystic sweet communion”[1]
) with the great church - past, present and future. We are gathered
on the first day of the week in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in
the presence and power of the Holy Spirit
to remember the gospel - the things
of first importance: “Christ
died for our sins in accordance with the
Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and
that He appeared…” (1 Cor. 15: 3-5).
The Eastern
Orthodox church has a lovely greeting on
Resurrection Sunday morning . The pastor
says in the Greek language: “Χριστός
ἀνέστη!" - "Christ is Risen!" and the congregation responds:
"Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!"
- "Truly He is Risen!"
This strikes me as so much more biblical than saying “Happy
Easter“. Most sources
seem to think that the
word “Easter” it comes from the Anglo-Saxon name “Eostre”, (and Norse
“Ostara”) , the goddess of the
sunrise and the spring, who was worshipped
at the time of the (northern hemisphere) spring equinox. The direction of the sunrise, the East, is named after
her. The worship of her was associated with the springtime themes of rebirth, new life,
new hope, and light - some of the very themes associated with the story of the
resurrection. Bunnies and eggs were symbols of fertility and so
we find
here a classic case of syncretism, i.e. where the Christian faith
has been mixed with pagan beliefs .
Enough said about that! Our
passion is the passion and
resurrection of Christ. Today we remember especially the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Our text in Luke 24 describes Luke (the physician’s) orderly account (Lk. 1:3) of the resurrection, from the early dawn of that
first day of the week [2](
24:1) until the Ascension (24:50-53), 40
days later, with Pentecost (50 days later) implied in v.49.
There can be no doubt that the significant theme of this 24th chapter is the Resurrection of Christ, and the accompanying
proofs that He
had truly risen. The reason why the
Christian church made the transition between
Yom Shabat (Sabbath Day or 7th
day) to
Yom Rishon (First Day) as the
7th day of rest
and worship is
simple. This is the day on which Yeshua rose. This was also the day on which, 50 days later, the Holy Spirit (Ruach
hakodesh) would be outpoured. It
would be the birthday of the church (the ekklesia (Gr.) or k'nessiyah (Hebr.) )
Jesus had often been speaking, directly and indirectly about His death and resurrection in the course of His ministry (Lk. 9:21-22; 44;
11:29-30; 13:33-35 ;17:25; 18:32-33; 20:9-18, 22:14-23, 37). But now the time had come when His words would be tested. Surely, the supreme test of Christ’s claim to who He is must have
been this : would He conquer death? Nobody
had ever come back from the dead
! Death was the final curtain. It was
the final sting. Death always had the last word, and death always seemed to have the victory! Why should this be
different for the
miracle-worker from
Nazareth?
Let’s see, but before we see, I want
to draw your attention to a
remarkable fact. In the course of His
ministry there were three people
(that we know of) whom Jesus had raised from the dead: The widow's son at Nain (Lk
7: 11-17); Jairus' daughter (Matt.
9:18 18-26) and Lazarus (Jn 11: 1-44). These three people ( and especially the story of Lazarus)
prove that Jesus had
the power to overrule
man’s greatest enemy- death. But would
He Himself be able to overcome
His own death? Who was going to raise Him ?
The Resurrection ( 24:1-12)
Jesus died on Friday (on the eve of the Sabbath). On the Sabbath day ( this is
significant!) He rested in the
grave. His work was indeed finished!
But on
Yom Rishon, the first day of
the week, He rose from the grave ! We read
that the those who
wanted to embalm Jesus’ body with spices and ointments ( see their names
in v.10) did not find Jesus in the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had so
graciously provided . Very strange - the
stone was rolled away! There was no one in the tomb.What happened?
The answer is
provided by 2 men in dazzling
apparel – in shining garments. Who
are these men? It seems clear that these
were angels of God. As always, they have a similar
effect on mankind: “… they( the women) were frightened
and bowed their faces to the ground.” (v.5a).
The angels say to them, “Why do you seek the living (Christ)
among the dead?”
The Power of Unbelief
The angels are actually rebuking these faithful women for
coming to embalm the body. Christ
had told them so many times, that
He was going to be raised from the dead! So, here unbelief was coming to embalm Christ’s dead body!
We shall see that this unbelief is frequently addressed in the 24th
chapter, and it constitutes another subject which we shall address in a short while.
And so the angels say to them : “He is not here, but has risen!
Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee (cf. 18:33), that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful
men and be crucified and on the third
day rise.” (vv.6,7).
And they
remembered His words…! (v.8) Ah, it is not that they had not heard
Him saying this! This is simply the testimony of the power of
unbelief. They would not believe
that Jesus was going to do what
He said! I remind you once again, that
if it depended on our faith to be saved, none of us would be saved!
The mercy and grace of Christ alone saves us!
Now hear this (and it
reinforces the point made that we
‘hear , but don’t hear!’[3]
) “… and
returning from the tomb they told all
these things to the eleven and to all
the rest…but these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not
believe them! (vv. 9-11)
The power of unbelief is amplified by the fact that the 11
disciples (now minus Judas, who was not only possessed by unbelief , but by Satan himself) did not believe the women!
Peter, who fancied himself as the Lord’s
blue eyed boy, and who swore undying
allegiance to Christ was the
chief of unbelievers. We shall meet them again in v. 36.
In the meantime
… on the road to Emmaus ( 24:13-35)
The narrative is disrupted by an important insert. [4]
This happened on the same day as Jesus had risen (v.13). 2 men are walking from Jerusalem to a
village named Emmaus- about 12 kilometers. There is ample time to talk, and
they talk about all these things that have happened. As
they are walking, we read that
Jesus joined them and walked with them! This is hard to fathom. Jesus joins their company and they don’t recognize Him. Had they never seen him before?
This is unlikely . The explanation is given in v.16: “But their eyes were
kept from recognizing Him.” Keep that verse in mind until later,
when we get to v.31 .
This
account is not without a touch of humour. As Jesus joins them, He says: “So,
what are you talking about?
“ With sadness one of them, named Cleopas
says: “You mean, you haven’t
heard? You are coming from Jerusalem,
and you don’t know about the things that have happened there?“ Jesus plays
dumb: “What things?” And they
tell Him about Himself! … “Jesus of Nazareth… and what the chief
priests did to Him- they crucified Him. He’s
dead ! To be honest, we had hoped that
He would be the Great Redeemer of Israel. But He’s dead. This is already the
third day! But to be honest we have heard a very puzzling report from some of our women. Angels told them that He had
risen from the dead !” And
Jesus takes them to task: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken! Was it not
necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?”
Let us
pause here again for a
moment and continue to meditate on this recurring
matter of unbelief. None of these
New Testament personalities actually believes
Christ’s words . Worse still, none of them recognize Christ- until He chooses to reveal
Himself! And so it is my dear brothers
and sisters ! Without help we are simply not able to see
Christ clearly. We are simply not able
to comprehend His truth fully – even as
those who say that they believe in Him! We need grace
to understand. We need
revelation.
And thus Jesus
began to patiently explain,
beginning "with Moses and all the prophets,
as He interpreted to them in
all the Scriptures the things concerning
himself." (v.27) We don’t
know precisely what He might have
said concerning Himself , but He
might have shown them that
He was the fulfillment of every OT sacrifice; that He was
the true Deliverer and King, of whom all the judges and deliverers in
Jewish history were but shadows. He
was the true temple to whom the people were to be gathered; He was
the coming Prophet greater than Moses.
He was the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head (Gen 3:16). He was the One in whom all nations were to be
blessed. He was the true scape-goat that
bore away the sins of the people ; He was the
true Lamb who alone could take
our sin. He was our true High Priest of
whom every priest was a figure.
Here is the solution to
our great problem : If we do not
have revelation, if we do not receive help from
the Holy Spirit, we shall never
know Him for who He is! One of the greatest works that we can do as a church is to
pray that the Spirit of revelation may rest upon us and upon our ministry! Apart from Him we can do
nothing! Does that sound familiar (Jn
15:1-7)
Luke
24:28-35
The
road came to an end, and so did the
conversation. Since the day was now far spent (v.29) these two dear men
prevailed with Christ (whom they
still had not recognized) to stay with
them overnight . It was only at the
supper table that their eyes were opened as to
who had walked with them. When He took the bread , blessed it and gave it to them (v.30) their eyes were opened. The passive
mood indicates that this was done to them.
But then comes verse 32: “And He vanished from their sight“. This is resurrection body
dynamics. He vanishes … He appears (v.36). We won’t be able to understand this
yet. Science cannot explain this dynamic .
But note the conversation that follows
now : “Did not our hearts burn within
us while he talked to us on the road,
while He opened to us the Scriptures? “ This is a very interesting comment. Christ used the Scriptures to explain Himself. Can we do
any better than that on this
resurrection morning? When I open the Scriptures to you, and show you what is there , and the Holy Spirit
is present, the Scriptures
make our hearts to burn within us. The truth resonates within us. Our hearts testify ... this is
true … this is true … this is TRUE! And
this is proof of the fact that our Lord
Jesus lives. Jesus is alive and the
Scripture (His Word) is alive. The result of having it opened up and explained produces revelation , and where there is such
revelation there is joy!
They
returned to Jerusalem within the hour , where they found the 11
disciples and testified to them: “The
Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon (Peter) “ , and our 2
disciples of the Emmaus road were able
to verify this as they related their own
experience and “ how He was known to them in the ( revelation of) breaking of bread”
(v.35).This is followed
by another sudden appearance of Jesus (v.36) … and more fear.. and more being troubled and more
doubts… but v.41 gives us a
redeeming insight : “ And while they
still disbelieved for joy and were marveling….” It was dawning on them again. Jesus is alive!
, and in v. 45 we read how Jesus opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures.
Now
let us learn from this: Unless
the Lord regularly meets us, and helps us to see Him and opens the Scriptures to us so that our hearts burn, we will not see, and
we will easily lapse into unbelief. Remember that the entire life of a
Christian is lived by grace and by revelation from God. If this were not so, we would
continue in the deadness of our
unbelief. Thank God then for the resurrection of Christ by which the Living Lord comes and
ministers to us! Amen.
[1] The Church’s One Foundation – Samuel
J. Stone (1866 )
[2] The first day of the week ( Sunday) is called “Yom Rishon”
i.e. “day , the first”
[3] Isaiah 6:9 – “ Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not
perceive…” quoted by Jesus in Matt 13:14,15
[4] Only found in Luke’s gospel
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