Monday, Fourth Week of EasterWhile they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Luke 24:36
We come to the last of the appearances of the risen Lord in Luke’s Gospel, all of which took place on Easter Sunday. This one comes directly on the heels of the celebration after the two disciples returned from Emmaus.
The fist words of Jesus in this scene are the same as in John’s Gospel when he first appeared to the disciples” “Peace be with you.”
That’s a striking touch of kindness to a group that had abandoned him when he was arrested…a group whose leader had denied him three times.
Those are his first words to us every time we come before him to confess our sins: “Peace be with you.”
Jesus did not come to the disciples “to get even.” He came to help them…and most of all, to help them believe He always, always comes to us the same way.
This is the same Jesus who ate and drank with sinners, cured the sick, raised the dead, blessed children, told his disciples at the Last Supper that he longed to share this meal with them.
This is the same Jesus who longs to share this meal with me every Sunday.
This is the same Jesus who is with me now, and says, “Peace be with you.”
Spend some quiet time with the Risen Lord.
April 19, 2005Jesus’ Second Appearance in Luke
The Gospel writers couldn’t include everything. They had to pick and choose their material. Their focus was the particular community for whom they were writing.
This is one reason why each Gospel has different material and different emphases. Their choices were affected by the questions, problems, needs of their audience.
With that in mind, one way to read a Gospel passage is to say: “This is a response to a particular question in their community. If this is the response, what was the question?”
Applying this to Luke’s description of Jesus’ second appearance, one could ask: “Why wasn’t the Emmaus story enough? To what questions did this second story respond?
Probably by the time Luke wrote his Gospel, some Christians had begun to think of the resurrection in foggy terms. Jesus sort of lived on after death.
Luke wanted there to be no mistake on this one. Jesus is not a bodiless person in some shadowy existence. Jesus lives as a full-fledged transformed human being!
Luke wants Christians of all generations to hear Jesus say: “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet. See that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
