But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Them he said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Luke 24:37-39
Now this is the strangest thing. The disciples are celebrating the good news that Jesus has truly been raised! Yet when he appears to them in the middle of all this, theyre terrified. They think theyre seeing a ghost. Whats going on?
Whats going on is that Luke, writing some 50 years later, is patching together different traditions about the appearances of the risen Lord. Its hard to put them into one consecutive narrative like trying to sew together pieces of cloth that werent cut from the same garment. Each appearance sheds its own light on the resurrection, and we should let each speak its own message to us.
Its striking that Jesus shows them his hands and his feet. Were the nail marks still there? (John, in his Gospel, is explicit that indeed they were.) The Jesus who rose is the Jesus who was crucified. But the wounds are no longer bodily flaws or deformities. They are now treasures, like coal becomes a diamond.
No one leaves this earth without wounds wounds to the heart and to the body. We bring our own history with us. It is not erased, but becomes lustrous. The hurts of the past are transfigured into treasures.
Such is the grandeur of the resurrection my wounds become gems.
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Lukes Chronology
In Lukes account, the Last Supper was a Passover meal, celebrated on Thursday evening, when the Passover began.
On Friday, Jesus died and was taken down from the cross and buried before the Sabbath rest began that evening.
On Saturday, his body lay in the tomb while the disciples observed the Sabbath rest.
On Sunday, the risen Christ appeared to many of his disciples.
According to Luke, he continued to appear for 40 days and then dramatically ascended out of their sight which would be the Thursday of the sixth week after Easter.
The sending of the Holy Spirit took place of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, a feast celebrated 50 days after Passover.
The Churchs liturgical calendar was patterned on this chronology.