Luke 24:44-53, theme verse Luke 24:48
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In the seventh Sunday of the Easter season, I pray that His vitality and joy and power of the resurrection may be with you all. During last over month, after meditating on the Gospel of Luke, we learned that Luke proclaimed that the Gospel is good news for all nations, in which the lost humanity, I mean, the Image of God, which all human beings were lost, could be healed and recovered, toward the restoration of relationship with God and others. And Jesus was sent for this mission and when He ascended to heaven, He empowered His disciples to do His Great commission to proclaim this good news to the world after training so we would like to learn few lessons, while investigating today’s text together.
1) As we looked during past month, the Gospel of Luke was written by Luke who was a Gentile from Syria Antioch, to a Roman Gentile Theophilus,around AD 80-90, when the Gentiles increased a lot in the church, saying that “The Gospel is the good news for all nations which brought the salvation from the sin and healing of its corruption to recover the relationship with God so Jesus was sent to this world as a Savior and Healer, who was the Son of God and also a perfect Man and the Messiah of God."
2) And while living in this world,
a. Jesus did the kingdom ministry in Galilee,
b. and in His way to Jerusalem, He trained His disciples, while letting them know three times that He would be suffered and crucified, yet raised in the third day,
c. and finally took the atonement ministry in Jerusalem and then He ascended to heaven after entrusting them great commission to proclaim the good news to the world
so that His disciples, being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, starting from Jerusalem, and via Judea and Samaria, proclaimed this good news to the world.
3) But while when we read the chapter 24 of the gospel of Luke, there was a point which is a little bit confused, that’s to say, even though our Lord told them three times about His suffering, death and resurrection, it is said that His disciples ran away when He was crucified, being captured by Roman soldiers, and even when Jesus was raised from the dead, still it is said that they were still perplexed, discouraged or fearful. I mean, according to chapter 24,
a. it is said that faithful women who followed Him until His death, were perplexed, when they saw the tomb was empty since Jesus was resurrected, instead of being joyful.
b. And also it is said that some of His disciples was discouraged, since their words of women seemed an idle tale, when women told them that Jesus was resurrected.
c. And even it is said that some of them became discouraged and went down to their hometown, Emmaus, because they thought that the Lord could not save Israel as they expected, even after hearing Jesus’ resurrection.
d. And also it is said that His disciples who heard Jesus’ resurrection from women, two disciples who returned from the road to Emmaus, and even Simon, did not believe in and hid themselves in Mark’s attic and even when Jesus appeared before them, they were afraid since they thought He was a ghost.
4) Therefore, according to chapter 24, to women, who were perplexed instead of being joyful, when they saw the tomb was empty since the Lord had risen, angels appeared, reminding Jesus’ saying “the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Then they could remember Jesus’ words again and became to believe in Jesus’ resurrection and reported it to the eleven disciples and others. And to two disciples who were coming down to their hometown, Emmaus, since they were still discouraged, thinking that Jesus had failed to save Israel from Roman tyranny as they expected, even after they heard Jesus’ resurrection from women, Jesus appeared to them. Btu, even though Jesus appeared before them on the road, when they did not still recognize him, the Lord explained them in detail what was written about Him in all the Scriptures so that their hearts were warmed, yet they still did not realize that this was Jesus. So finally when they were having dinner together and the Lord took some bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, their eyes were openned and they finally recognized Jesus. So when Jesus had already disappeared, they believed in His resurrection and immediately came back to Jerusalem and told the eleven disciples and those with them that the Lord had risen. And also to those disciples who did not believe in His resurrection and hid themselves in the attic even after hearing Jesus’ resurrection from women, two disciples of Emmaus, and even Simon, Jesus appeared in front of them, but they even became fearful since they thought He was the ghost. So, Jesus showed His hands and feet with nail holes, told them to touch them and then ate a piece of roasted fish to show them that He was not a ghost, rather He had been resurrected in the flesh, and also He found out and taught them all the stories regarding Jesus in the Law, Prophets, and Psalms, opening their hearts to understand.
5) And then our Lord commanded them to witness Christ's suffering and resurrection, and to spread repentance for forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations, starting from Jerusalem, while He also commanded them to stay in Jerusalem until they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit that the Father had promised. Then, it is written that His disciples returned to Jerusalem, where Jesus' opponents are still filled with vicious hostility, and were praising God in the temple with great joy.
6) The reason why those who were perplexed, anxious, discouraged and fearful could be transformed into bold and joyful disciples who gathered to praise God in the temple where still were filled with hostile Jews was not only the resurrected Jesus met with them, but also they heard the word regarding His death and resurrection. I mean, Jesus and His word which explains the meaning of His death and resurrection made them transformed. Theologically speaking, Jesus told and taught them His humiliation ministries of His birth, suffering, death and burial which is summarized as His death for His vicarious atonement ministry and also His exaltation ministry of resurrection, ascension, seating in the righthand of God and second coming as a judge which is represented as His resurrection for the righteousness of His chosen. As such, in order to make them believe in, Jesus help them to understand and believe it by teaching them the content of their belief, I mean, His death and resurrection and its meaning of forgiveness of sin in His name.
7) And here there is one more thing we have to think about. I mean, because for the faith, this proclamation of this intellectual historical facts is not enough, especially for those who are perplexed, discouraged or terrified. So, according to today’s text, to the women who were confused after they saw the Lord's death, our Lord moved away the large stone that had been placed in His tomb and opened it. And also He opened the eyes of the discouraged disciples who were returning to Emmaus so that they could see the Lord clearly. And even to the disciples, who were trembling with fear, resurrected Lord, opened their hearts so that they could understand and believe in the words of the Bible. In summary, those who had been filled with confusion, discouragement, and fear, were now filled with joy and were able to gather at the temple every day to praise God even in the amongst of hostility.
8) In addition to all these things, our Lord said, there is one more thing He prepared for His disciples who take His great commission. Jesus prepared the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, in the Gospel of Luke, just as Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and with His power to perform all His ministries, Jesus not only explained and taught them everything about His death and resurrection and restored their hearts with joy and courage, but also He commanded them to remain in Jerusalem until they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. All of these graces combined together became the driving force which enabled the disciples to boldly preach the forgiveness of sins in the name of the Lord along with the proclamation of our Lord's death and resurrection.
9) Through today’s Bible verses, we would like to learn few things.
Firstly, we would like to think about whether the proclamation of the historical facts and the meaning of His death and resurrection was sufficient to make them to believe in. It is not! As verse 45 of today's text clearly says, in order to make them believe in, Jesus had to open their hearts and made them understand and believe in His death and resurrection for His salvation and healing. That’s why John 14:26 says that the Holy Spirit, another Comforter who was sent by our Lord, will teach and remind us everything the Lord has said. So after we recognize that faith goes beyond simply declaring historical facts, rather our Lord must open our hearts to realize and believe in, we have to be humble always. Secondly, also I hope we could remember that when we are not sure whether we encountered our resurrected Lord, the fact that we can understand and believe in His death and resurrection for me is the proof that the Holy Spirit has been working in us already and that if still your heart is full of chaos, anxiety, discouragement or fear, as Ps 62:8 says “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him,” speak out your chaos, anxiety, discouragement and even fear, then, our Lord will give and fill your hearts with joy and courage and also that if you think that you are not filled with the power of the Holy Spirit yet, then as Lk 11:13 says “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”, ask Him then He will surely grant the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish your mission. Therefore I hope in this seventh Sunday of Easter season that our Lord may come and recover joy in our heart which still is full of chaos, discourage and fear and then give us the power of the Holy Spirit through which we can take our mission to proclaim this good news to the world for our Father’s glory.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s sermon, we can know that our Lord gives us the faith of intellect, emotion and will. So, after looking at our heart whether there’s still any weakness in us, I hope you could share your thought and idea of how to get a grace for that with your team members together.
Q2 And also, first of all, the Holy Spirit not only makes us recognize the truth in the salvation, but also grants us His power to take great commission. So after reviewing your life and checking whether you have enough grace, I hope you could share your thoughts and experience with your team members.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
Comments