April 14, 2024

Sermon title:  "Jesus Stands Among the Disciples"

Scripture:  Luke 24:36b-48

(Other lectionary suggestions include Acts 3:12-19, Psalm 4, and I John 3:1-7.)

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

36bWhile 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. 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, 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.

          In the church calendar we are still in Eastertide, or the third Sunday of Easter. I realize that Easter was two weeks ago, but Easter Sunday is considered the first Sunday of Easter! I mention this because today we have Luke's version of the Risen Christ. If you were here last week, you may recall that we heard something from John's Gospel about Jesus meeting with the disciples in the Upper Room. That was one of John's accounts of the Risen Lord.

          Today we read about the rather bizarre account of Jesus eating a piece of broiled fish. What's up with that? The early church wanted to state quite clearly that what the disciples saw was a REAL person, raised from the dead, the SAME guy who had been crucified. While it is hard to describe the body that the Risen Lord had, the first believers wanted to emphasize that what they saw was real flesh and blood if somewhat different! It was not a ghost, not a spirit, not an apparition!

          Let me ask you:  do YOU believe in the Risen Christ? If so, how would you describe his body? And before you answer, let me add that you are probably trying to describe the indescribable! The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel tried to describe his vision of God as a wheel within a wheel! And what we get from that, thanks to our African brothers and sisters, is that wonderful spiritual, "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel, Way Up in the middle of the air...." Okay - that's ONE way of describing the indescribable. Can you give me another?

          I want to stop and say that I learned from the Interpreter's Bible commentary that we have in our church that the early church, after baptizing a new member, would give that new convert a PIECE of BROILED FISH, plus a piece of honeycomb! Interesting, don't you think? Did they do that because Jesus did it first, or did the writer of Luke's account put that in there because the practice had already been established? I don't know. I'm no help here! What do you think?

          Also, the account we read today follows closely on the heels of the account of the road to Emmaus. Remember that? Two people, Cleopas and Mary, possibly husband and wife, are walking along with Jesus. But they don't recognize him......until they invite him inside and he is made known to them in the breaking of the bread. And then he disappears! That story, the road to Emmaus story, is written to emphasize the PERSONAL relationship each of us has with Jesus. What we read in Scripture today emphasizes the CORPORATE nature of our worship. Both are important; neither one is more important than the other. But Luke wants to emphasize BOTH, and he does!

          Another idea to mention....During the first century, most of the Jewish community believed in a life after death, although most thought "The Just" would be raised. Perhaps you recall the phrase "the resurrection of The Just". So, the thought was that there would be a LOT of people raised from the dead, not simply ONE man, Jesus. So, the early church took pains to point out that it was God's plan to raise ONE person and not a whole bunch.

          The apostle Paul talks about the resurrection in I Corinthians 15. The New Testament scholar N. T. Wright says there will be a new body for each of us. And that body "will belong in both the dimensions of God's world, in both heaven and earth." You and I, of course, have an earthly body only. However, "Jesus' new body is {{apparently}} at home in both earth and heaven." You know:  he seems to move in and out of closed rooms with locked doors! Again, N. T. Wright: "If our mental pictures of 'heaven' need adjusting to allow for this startling possibility, so be it. Only this explains the otherwise very puzzling stories, here and in John's similar account. Of course, the resurrection, and the ascension, stretch our minds and our imaginations further than we normally like. We who live...with our thinking conditioned by the world of sin and death, find it a huge struggle to adjust to God's new world. That is part of the challenge of the gospel."

          Did you hear some of the last words that the Risen Christ said today? He said, "Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed...to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Says Wright:  "The Bible always envisaged that when God finally acted to fulfill all the promises made to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, then the whole world would be brought into the embrace of God's saving and healing love."

          So, repentance and forgiveness are needed on a personal level. But they are also needed on an international level, too. Says N. T. Wright:  "Jesus promised his followers that they would be equipped with power from God to engage in their new tasks; the book of Acts is the story of what began to happen as a result. But Luke's gospel ends, as it began, in the Temple at Jerusalem. Worship of the living God, now revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, is at the heart of Luke's vision of the Christian life." Amen.

Pastor Skip