(Click here to read Luke 24)
Luke 24:1-9 (ESV)
But on the first day of the
week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they
had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the
tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the
Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two
men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were
frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them,
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here,
but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in
Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands
of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And
they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they
told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
Jesus was born in poverty away
from home, displaced by the whim of the empire. He was born in
Bethlehem, David's city, where the Old Testament prophesied the
Messiah would be born. But he didn't stay a baby. He was raised the
son of a carpenter in the rural, multi-ethnic region of Galilee as
scripture had also said of Messiah. But he didn't stay in Galilee.
Just as the Old Testament said Messiah would, Jesus traveled and
taught the people a message of Good News for the poor, freedom for
the captive and the oppressed, and sight for the blind. He healed the
sick, fed the hungry, and cast out demons. The crowds followed him.
But his ministry didn't last forever, and his disciples didn't always
remain with him.
Jesus was executed by the Roman
empire for insurrection, though he was found innocent and had
committed no crime, just as scripture had said, and just as Jesus
himself had told his disciples. But he didn't stay dead.
On the third day, Jesus came back
from the dead, defeating the final enemy, and humanity's most common
enemy. Death was the curse of sin, but this sinless one had overcome
it. Humankind was set free, and the law no longer stood between them
and God. From then on, the law could be written upon their hearts,
just as scripture had said. The life of the Holy Spirit could now
live inside of humankind, and the Kingdom of God birthed from within
to change the entire world from the grave to the sky.
Jesus' disciples did not yet
understand their part in the unfolding of an ancient story. Jesus was
at the centre of history. His life, death, and promised resurrection
were far more than the local revolution they'd dreamed of. The result
would change them and their world in a far deeper and more permanent
way than they could imagine. This was ancient promises fulfilled, and
new promises for a better hope for the rest of time.
When two disciples were sharing
their grief on the road to Emmaus, they did not recognize the
stranger that began waling with them. When he asked why they were so
downcast, and their shared of the violent and dramatic loss of their
friend and Rabbi, he opened their eyes to the greater story.
Luke
24:25-26 (ESV)
25 And he said to them,
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should
suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And
beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in
all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
This last chapter of Luke is not
the end of the story. Luke continues into his next book, Acts,
without missing a moment. Jesus has fulfilled the promises made by
the prophets and by himself. But those promises are Good News of the
Kingdom to travel far beyond Galilee or even Jerusalem. This is a
story and a message for all humanity, one that means freedom and
justice for anyone, anywhere who would leave the chains of the old
empire behind them. These disciples will carry on, with the authority
of an ancient story and an eternal future.
Luke's Greek audience was not
interested in a religion that had just entered the scene. As he
closes this chapter of the story and begins the next, he makes it
clear that following Jesus is not a new path, but one with a history
that stretches to before the height of ancient Egypt. The promise of
Messiah had been given thousands of years before, to a faithful man
and his wife in the ancient Near East. The Heavenly Father of whom
Jesus preached had redeemed and restored his people again and again
through the rise and fall of mighty empires. This continuing story
was not the Good News for freedom for everyone from every empire, and
even from judgment and death.
Jesus appeared to his disciples
again, all together, as they gathered in a house together. To assure
them of his real, physical resurrection, he shared food with them.
Jesus' message in Luke has been real, practical, and measurable since
the beginning. This resurrection changed nothing. The Kingdom was now
inaugurated, and his followers were now able to get to the business
of putting the real Kingdom into real action.
Luke
24:44-48 (ESV)
44 Then 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 and the Prophets
and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their
minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus
it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day
rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of
sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
Judgment had been fully paid.
Religious law had been satisfied. The empire had been defeated. Even
death had been overcome.
The Great Reversal had just
begun.
Luke
24:49-53 (ESV)
49 And
behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in
the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
50 Then he led them out
as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While
he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great
joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
This is the end of the age of sin
and empire, but not the end of the story.
This is the beginning of the age
of the Kingdom of God, but not its fulfillment.
The seed was planted. God would
now work it through the whole of the world. Jesus is King.
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