Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Today is Tuesday after Easter Sunday. So, let’s be honest… for a very large percentage of the world’s population, today Tuesday and Easter, Resurrection Sunday have little to do with each other, even though separated by only a few hours! But should Easter Sunday impact normal Tuesday everywhere in the world? What about you and me, and our extended families?
Should the historical event, the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Sunday following His crucifixion, whether you believe it to be true or not, have any effect on today, Tuesday about 2000 years later?
Should it affect how governments function today? Or what about how schools or hospitals or businesses function, or how about the Dow Jones or Nasdaq or S&P or Nikkei indexes of international investment markets and how they function today? Should it affect global, national, community and personal morality, today? Should it affect how you and I spend our money today or how we drive our automobile today or how we talk or text with friends or family today, or how we make our choices and decisions today? Should it affect our world view, our personal values, our marriages, our retirement plans?
Oh my, now is that taking this question about the resurrection of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, to a radical extreme today?
Both John and Luke tell us that 10 of the disciples, and perhaps some of the women who had seen the risen Jesus, were together that resurrection Sunday evening. No doubt it was an exuberant discussion as they were all trying to merge their various stories from that remarkable, unprecedented day. More than 12 hours had passed since the first women to the tomb encountered an angel; the stone rolled away from the opening of the cave/tomb; and saw for themselves that only burial cloths remained in that tomb.
Since that breathtaking experience, Jesus had appeared multiple times, in different places around Jerusalem, to different people. Now they were trying to piece together a unified hour by hour reconstruction of this resurrection day. Can’t you imagine them shouting over each other, asking so many questions, trying to find out who was where, doing what, when they first heard the news, or actually saw the risen Jesus?
I think it’s possible they were so busy talking they didn’t even notice that the resurrected Jesus had come into the room that evening! (Luke 24:36; John 20:19) Finally when they did and He greeted them they nearly lost their breath.
Then Jesus invited them to look at the evidence of His miraculous resurrection. All the effects of the flogging, the beatings were gone. Lacerations healed, skin knit back together and of normal color. As Jesus extended His hands then they saw the nail scars and perhaps He even showed them nail scars in His feet, and the spear scar in His side. (Luke 24:36-40)
But Jesus wanted to prove to them that His resurrected body could still function as they had known Him before, and so He asked them to share what they were eating, and He joined them! (Luke 24:41-43) I presume they were sitting around the table, as often they had done, when Jesus began teaching and explaining what this unique resurrection day should be understood to mean, by them and those they would tell about it! They listened intently.
Jesus said: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44) Oh my! Jesus was calling them to think back, to remember the times He had predicted exactly what had happened to Him over this horrible weekend. They had not wanted to hear it. They had made no attempt to understand it when Jesus had spoken it, and now part of the reason they were struggling to accept both His death and now His resurrection was because they had missed the opportunity He had given them before to ask questions and try to prepare themselves.
Oh that’s an important lesson isn’t it my friends? When we waste the opportunities God gives us to learn important life lessons; when we waste time God has given us to dig deeply into His Word, to grow in our understanding of the Scriptures… those wasted time choices will come back to haunt us in the future.
For when we then face situations in which we feel unprepared spiritually; we feel God is distant and we can’t seem to find Him; when we don’t have the answers to our own questions; it is then that we need to give serious consideration to how much time we wasted in our past when God was inviting us to learn! That resurrection evening I’m guessing several of the disciples had to look away from Jesus, knowing full well they had failed themselves by not preparing for this weekend, even while Jesus had been trying to help them prepare.
Next, Jesus did something remarkable. Luke describes it this way: “Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45) Luke said Jesus had done the same thing earlier that day with the two men walking on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:27,31,32) Paul the apostle tells us this is an important work of the Holy Spirit of God today in helping people like you and me understand the Scriptures, no matter what language or translation of the Bible we read, anywhere in the world! (1 Corinthians 2:4-15) Is that your experience my friends, when you prayerfully open God’s Word? It is absolutely what the resurrected Jesus wants you and me to experience, just like those in that room that Easter Sunday evening with Him.
Then Jesus gave them this first glimpse into their purpose, for the rest of their lives. Jesus said: “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in HIS name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised…” (Luke 24:46-49) Did you hear it my friends? They were God’s chosen eye witnesses to all that Jesus had said and all that had happened to Jesus, just as the prophets had predicted about the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
Because they were eyewitnesses, now they were the ones God was trusting to take this Gospel message, their eye witness accounts, to the entire world, to all nations! And did you notice Jesus repeating what He had promised in the upper room on Thursday evening before it all happened? Jesus would send them God’s Holy Spirit who would live within them, guide and teach them and empower them to face what only God knew would be the challenging journey facing each of them for the rest of their lives!
Now ponder that for a few seconds. Jesus was saying that the events of that Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday should change their lives, for the rest of their lives, so that they would live EVERY remaining day until they died, with their values, their world view, their choices, their relationships, their priorities and their daily agenda ALL shaped by the Holy Spirit of God living within them, and they would live their lives in response to and in honor of what Jesus Christ accomplished that weekend!
Wait…don’t rush past that statement. Read it again. Was it true for those gathered with the resurrected Jesus that resurrection day evening? And maybe more important, is it true for you and me, this Tuesday, 2000 years later? If so, how should it be evidenced in our lives?
If this song had been written then, I can imagine either Peter or John standing up, in response to all that Jesus had said, and singing this to Jesus. Can you hear all the disciples joining in as they grasped what their lives would be all about from that day forward? And what about you and me? Do we understand it?
Today’s Scripture: Luke 24:36-49.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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