Reading the Gospels Together

The Resurrection – Part 5

Luke proceeds to tell his readers of a third resurrection appearance story. This is a resurrection appearance story that Luke shares with John although the details of these two stories differ between the two writers. As Luke tells the story it is during that very evening when the Emmaus travelers have returned to Jerusalem in great joy that Jesus suddenly appears among those gathered. We had noted how Jesus had been unrecognizable to the Emmaus travelers at first and that following his revealing of himself in the breaking of the bread he had suddenly disappeared. His appearance now is also sudden. Luke tells his readers that those gathered in the room were terrified thinking they were seeing a ghost. Jesus addresses them inviting them to touch his body, to see the nail prints in his hands and feet, and finally to give him a piece of fish to eat. Luke’s point it to tell his readers that Jesus has a real body – though now it is a resurrected body. This is not just a “spiritual” Jesus but the same Jesus who was crucified and died but is now existing in a resurrected body. And the stories that Luke has told reflect that – one can see the body of the resurrected Jesus and not recognize him, Jesus disappears, something bodies do not do ordinarily, and Jesus appears suddenly without walking into the room. John will reflect this same idea in his resurrection appearance stories. Though Luke insists this is a real bodily Jesus who is among them in his resurrected body, this body is also different from what was the case prior to his crucifixion and death. In the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul also struggles with this idea as he talks about our own resurrected bodies – he calls the resurrected body a “spiritual body.” All of this is difficult for any of us to understand – it is beyond our point of reference in this world. But Luke’s point is clear – the disciples are to realize that the Jesus who lived among them in bodily form is the same Jesus who appears to them in the same body though now it is a resurrected body. It is not an allusion or a figment of the imagination but a real presence – a continuation of the existence of Jesus – from life in a body in this world through death and into new life in the same body beyond this world though now it is a resurrected body. Once this has been established Luke goes on to tell his readers that, just as Jesus had taught the Emmaus travelers, he now instructs his disciples about everything written about him in the OT – the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. Jesus opens their heart to understand that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. As we read all of the gospel stories we recognize how all four reach back into the OT to help them tell the story of Jesus – what happened to Jesus is interpreted through the lens of the OT. And thus, the OT also shades how the story is told. There are some who would argue that the gospel writers simply took OT passages and created the story of Jesus from them. That is surely not the case. They had the raw data about what had happened to Jesus and found OT passages that helped to understand that raw data – and in the process, at times, the story was influenced by the OT. Jesus begins that process for them. And having put them on that road Jesus re-commissions his disciples to be witnesses to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. We have already seen how Jerusalem and the Temple have remained important to Luke throughout his gospel. He has not agreed with Mark in this case. We have also seen how Luke has mitigated and softened Mark’s appraisal of the disciples – they are neither failures nor dense. They are capable of fulfilling their mission once they have been clothed with power from on high. Luke is preparing his readers for his second volume – the book of Acts.

Luke is nearing the end of his gospel – but it is not really an ending because Luke is already moving forward into the book of Acts where he intends to tell the story of what unfolds for the followers of Jesus. In the beginning of the book of Acts, Luke will tell his readers the story of the ascension of Jesus. He previews it in the final verses of his gospel. Jesus leads his disciples out as far as Bethany which readers remember was at the summit of the Mount of Olives. There Jesus blesses his disciples and withdraws being carried into heaven – much like Elijah was carried into heaven in the OT. Luke tells his readers that the followers of Jesus now worship him and then return to the city of Jerusalem with great joy and are continually in the Temple blessing and praising God. Luke’s gospel comes to an end – but it is an end that leads immediately into the book of Acts. Without the book of Acts Luke’s gospel remains unfinished. We have noted how Mark leaves his gospel unfinished too but in a very different way. Readers are not frustrated with Luke’s ending – though they are likely anticipating the book of Acts. Luke had begun his story in Jerusalem in the Temple and that is where he ends it. And it is in Jerusalem that Luke will begin his second volume. We need to look just briefly at that beginning to wrap up Luke’s story.

As the book of Acts begins Luke tells his readers that Jesus presented himself alive to his followers by “many convincing proofs” appearing to them during the forty days following his resurrection. During that time Jesus teaches his followers more about the kingdom of God and commands them once again not to leave the city of Jerusalem until they have been baptized with the Holy Spirit. There is a hint of misunderstanding in Luke’s beginning of his second volume – the disciples wonder if this is the time when Jesus will “restore the kingdom to Israel.” Jesus tells them that it is not for the followers of Jesus to know such things but rather he reminds them again that they must receive power from God and once they do they will be witnesses to the ends of the earth beginning in Jerusalem. What were they thinking when they ask if this is the time for the restoration of the kingdom to Israel? Luke does not tell us. Was their view too narrow? Were they still thinking of a political kingdom where Israel would reign supreme? Were they thinking that the great and terrible day of the Lord was immanent and that the close of this age was about to happen? They and we are left without an answer – but, in the meantime, they and we have a commission and that commission is to bear witness to the entire world. And having commissioned his disciples once again, Luke retells the story of Jesus being taken up into heaven – the story with which he had closed his gospel. Jesus is taken up into heaven and two men suddenly appear with the disciples asking them why they are gazing up toward heaven. The two men remind them that Jesus will come in the same way they have seen him go into heaven. Is the mention of these two men reminiscent of the two men at the empty tomb? Perhaps. Luke provides no further information for his readers and moves forward into his story of the church.

All four gospel writers had to deal with what happened to Jesus after the death and resurrection – or at least three of them did since Mark just leaves everything “up in the air.” Matthew, Luke, and John all deal with this in different ways. We have heard Matthew tell his readers that the final promise of Jesus is that he will remain with them until the end of the age. There is no ascension in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus remains with his disciples down here on earth. Just how that happens is something Matthew does not address – but readers of Matthew’s gospel are lead to think of Jesus as being here on earth in some fashion with his disciples. John does not tell his readers an ascension story either. John tells his readers that in his first resurrection appearance Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into his followers thus commissioning them to bear witness in the world. Actually, John has been concerned about how the disciples would be able to go forward after the death and resurrection of Jesus much earlier in his gospel. In John’s long discourse during the meal scene Jesus addresses how his followers are to go forward once he has returned to the Father. Jesus promised them then that he would send another Advocate to be with them – in fact Jesus had promised them that he would not leave them as orphans and that he would remain with them. Exactly how this was to happen is something John leaves as open-ended as Matthew does. It has been clear from the very beginning of John’s gospel that Jesus has come from the Father and is returning to the Father – Jesus is from above and those who are his followers must be born from above. As John’s gospel comes to a close it closes only with the promise that those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, will have life in his name. Of course all four gospel writers are aware that Jesus is no longer physically present. Luke addresses that reality more fully than any of the others. Luke speaks of a point in time when the resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven to reign at the right hand of God. In the short period of time between his resurrection and ascension Luke tells his readers that Jesus appeared bodily in his resurrected body. Once Jesus has ascended the Holy Spirit would come upon the followers. It is only Luke who tells his readers the story of Pentecost – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But that is part of Luke’s second book. There remains something mysterious about the presence of the risen Jesus in all of the gospels. We still have difficulty understanding and talking about the presence of Jesus in our lives. But Luke has given us a hint about how we might think of this. It is by word and sacrament that Jesus makes himself present. The Emmaus story and the upper room story hinge on the disciples recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread – Holy Communion – and in Jesus teaching how Jesus fulfils the OT – Word. Both Word and Sacraments are mysterious in their working. They have been from the earliest time and continue today.