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The Gospel of Luke Chapter 24:36–53 Jesus Appears to All of His Disciples 24:36 While they were saying these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." Just as they were saying these things Jesus stood among them. The idea being conveyed is that he suddenly appeared—he had not previously entered the room. Just as suddenly as he had vanished at Emmaus, so now he appeared to his disciples and gave them the Jewish salutation "Shalom", "Peace to you". 24:37 But they were startled and terrified, thinking they saw a ghost. Although they had received reports from a number of witnesses who had seen the risen Lord, the disciples were completely unprepared for this revelation. They thought they were seeing Jesus’s ghost (a superstition which, as Matthew and Mark Luke highlight, was common among them—see Matt. 14:26; Mark 6:49). They were both surprised andterrified; although it may be right to suppose that the two from Emmaus, Peter, and those women who had already seen and spoken to the Lord were not as afraid as those who were seeing Jesus for the first time. 24:38 Then he said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? By asking his disciples why they were so disturbed and full of doubt and fear, Jesus both rebukes their unbelief (see Mark 16:14) and reassures them that there is nothing to fear in the supernatural action of God as revealed in the resurrection. 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet; it's me! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones like you see I have." He both invites them and challenges them to look at the nail scars in his hands and feet and touch him so that they might understand that he was not a ghost (spirit), for a spirit does not have flesh and bones. Clearly Luke wants us to understand that Jesus’s presence was corporeal not ethereal. 24:40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
As he said this, he also showed them his nailed scarred hands and feet. This is important, for the spirit of a man does not bear the wounds inflicted on the body. Luke is again emphasising the corporeality of Jesus in his resurrection. He was raised from the dead in his body; albeit a body which was transformed and glorified. 24:41 And while they still could not believe it (because of their joy) and were amazed, he said to them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They still stood there in disbelief, although instead of fear they were now filled joy and wonder. We might suppose that they were making progress towards faith, but they weren’t quite assured. So Jesus offers them a further proof, and asks them if they had anything to eat. 24:42–43 So they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in front of them. Having given him a roasted fish and some honeycomb, they watched as Jesus ate it before them, proving beyond doubt that he was really risen from the dead and not a spirit. Luke has—at least three times—carefully emphasised the bodily nature of Jesus’s resurrection. This is important because of the other aspects of Jesus’s resurrection that he records. Jesus could appear and disappear at will, despite (according to John 20:19) there being no unlocked entrance. He could apparently move from place to place in a supernatural way. Luke realises the need to portray Christ as being alive from the dead in a unique way. Jesus has raised many dead to life—ordinary human life—but he himself rose in a glorified body no longer subject to death or, apparently, to the usual physical laws of this life. As Paul describes it, it was an immortal, incorruptible body (1 Cor. 15:5154), empowered by the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:54) and fitted for life in heaven (Phil. 3:20-21), and it is this likeness we shall share with Jesus when we share in his resurrection (1 John 3:2).
Jesus Opens His Disciples Understanding 24:44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." Jesus reminded them that he had foretold the events of his death and resurrection, and then proceeds to explain the meaning of these events. All these things had happened in fulfilment of what was written about him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms; as such, Luke sees Jesus as the focus of all God’s purposes for humankind. 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, Then He thoroughly opened their minds and gave them an understanding of the Scriptures so that they recognized their true meaning.1 Jesus gave the disciples on the road to Emmaus an exposition of the ‘meaning’ underlying well known texts, and the disciples received it with the illumination provided by the Holy Spirit. . 1
The traditional translation of Luke 24:45, ‘he opened he their minds, that they might understand the scriptures,’ is not the only possible translation of τότε διήνοιξεν αὐτῶν τὸν νοῦν τοῦ συνιέναι τὰς γραφάς. Bates has very competently demonstrated that the text might equally mean ‘Then Jesus exposited the Scriptures so that the disciples could understand their meaning (νοῦν)’: Matthew W. Bates, ‘Closed-Minded Hermeneutics? A Proposed Alternative Translation for Luke 24:45’, Journal of Biblical Literature 129 no. 3 (2010), pp. 537– 557 [539]. See also Sanders, ‘Isaiah in Luke’, pp. 148–149
24:46 and said to them, "Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, From the scriptures, the risen Jesus explains the necessity of what had happened to him in terms of God’s salvation reaching all the peoples of the world. This salvation would be accomplished through repentance and faith in Jesus, resulting in the forgiveness of sins (e.g. suffering: Isa. 53: 3; resurrection: Ps. 16:10; all nations Isa. 2:1–3; 11:10; 49:6). 24:47–48 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. It was also written that the Gospel message would be propagated by Christ’s chosen servants to all people through the world, starting at Jerusalem (Ps. 67:2, Isa. 11:10). Since his disciples were witnesses of all that had happened, and since they had received an understanding of their meaning, they were among those whom he had chosen for this task. This is Luke’s equivalent of the great commission of Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:18-20 24:49 And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." Luke adds an important detail to the Great Commission not as clearly emphasised in the ending of the other gospels; although you will find the subject there. Jesus instructs his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until he sent them the Holy Spirit, just as His Father had promised (Joel 2:28). The Holy Spirit would empower them to be witnesses to him (Acts 1:8). It is important to realise this emphasis on the ability to reach the world for Christ being invested first of all in the Spirit, and only consequently in the church, as a result of her receiving him. Reliance on the Spirit’s power to assist the proclamation of the gospel remains the best strategy for mission.
The Ascension 24:50 Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. Jesus then took His disciples as far as Bethany, which is close to Jerusalem; not into the village but just outside, where he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Bethany was on the southern-east slope of the Mount of Olives (See Mark 11:1; Acts 1:9–12). Only Luke gives us the location of the ascension. 24:51 Now during the blessing he departed and was taken up into heaven. It was during the giving of this blessing that he was separated from them and taken up into heaven, an incident which Luke only mentions briefly here as he develops it in more detail in Acts 1:9. 24:52 So they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, Again, Luke fills out the details in Acts. As he ascended toheaven and returned to His Father the disciples worshiped him. On returning to Jerusalem they prayed and waited on God until the Holy Spirit came upon them, just as Jesus had commanded. 24:53 and were continually in the temple courts blessing God.
If John tells us of the fear which led the disciples to hide behind locked doors before the resurrection, Luke tells us of the freedom with which they went to God’s Temple to worship; a freedom which to a large extent continued—with some interruptions—until Paul’s arrest.2 © Derek Williams & Mathew Bartlett 2015 Bible Studies Online UK www.biblestudiesonline.org.uk You may copy, print or distribute our studies freely in any form, just so long as you make no charges. Sign up today for our FREE monthly Bible study magazine “Living Word” Scriptures taken from the NET Bible www.bible.org
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Whilst the destruction of the Temple is alluded to in 21:6, the early Christians are free to worship God in the Temple throughout most of Acts, until problems over issues of fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians led to the Temple doors being shut (Acts 21:28-30). In the narrative context of Acts, the doors are never again re-opened to Christians.