Luke 24, Part Two

His appearance to His disciples (vs. 36-53)--There were at least 11 separate appearances Jesus made to individuals after His resurrection. Luke records one here that none of the writers mention, except Paul in I Corinthians 15:5, if that is a reference to this event in Luke; it's not totally clear. Regardless, Jesus manifests Himself to His followers, and apparently in a miraculous manner. He seemed to suddenly materialize in their midst (v. 36), and some of them were "terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit" (v. 37). But Jesus comforts them and proves His true identity by showing them His hand and feet, and encourages them to touch Him: "for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have" (v. 39). The phrase (v. 41) "they still did not believe for joy" is a curious one; apparently they were so overcome and hopeful, that they just couldn't believe it was true. "Can it really be true? Really?" A joy so wonderful that they simply couldn't believe it was happening. But it was and Jesus gave further evidence by eating some fish and honeycomb (vs. 42-43).

Then He began to instruct them, explaining that He had told them these things before, that His life, death, and resurrection were among the "all things" which "must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me" (v. 44). The theme of the Old Testament is "Christ is coming," and that's what He tells them here. They began to understand (v. 45), but still had a long way to go. After fulfilling the prophetic pronouncements of His suffering and resurrection, now "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (v. 47). This is probably a direct reference to Isaiah 2:1-4 and Micah 4:1-3. The apostles were His witnesses (v. 48) and He tells them, in effect, that this is just the beginning: they should remain in Jerusalem "until you are endued with power from on high" (v. 49). That would happen soon, on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them and guided them into all the truth.

He then took them near Bethany--in sight of it--to the the Mount of Olives. Bethany was on the eastern side of that mountain. Perhaps they did go all the way to Bethany for some reason, and then made the short trip back to the Mount of Olives. Regardless, for the latter location, He blessed them one more time (v. 51) and then ascended to heaven. Luke concludes his gospel with a general statement of their joy and worship of Him. The good doctor will begin the book of Acts where he leaves off here--with Christ's ascension up to heaven.

Thus ends the marvelous gospel of Luke. It's taken me almost 50 posts to get through it, and I certainly did not begin to cover all that this rich book imparts. The central theme that runs through the entire book is priorities (14:26-33, for example). What good does it do to gain the whole world and lose one's soul? Jesus had come down from heaven; He knew its joys and glories, and He was trying--and through His word still is--to get men to focus more clearly on the next life and not this one. Most people won't do that. But then, they will answer to God as to why they did not. And they will have no excuse because the Lord Jesus told us, in unmistakable words, the will and commands of God.

Luke's story will continue in the book of Acts. By the grace of God, some day in the near future, I will examine, in another blog, that book.