Luke 24:36-49

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The reading is from St. Luke, chapter 24, verses 36 to 49. While they were still talking about this, Jesus stood amongst them and said to them, peace be with you. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, why are you troubled?

And why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. While they still did not believe it. Because of joy and amazement, he asked them, do you have anything to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it. In their presence, he said to them, 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. Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, 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. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.

This is the word of the Lord. It's good morning. Before we start, let's just quickly pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We ask, Lord, that the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts will be acceptable in your sight.

Amen. Amen. So if you haven't got your Bibles open, you might want to open them. Look, it's on page 1062, not 1066. 1062.

You may notice the simple subheading of our reading today. Now, these subheadings were not part of the original text. They were simply added by Bible translators to make it easier. But I was struck by this very simple statement that was added. Jesus appears to his disciples.

But it's so matter of fact, it's so simple. And to our eyes, those of us who know the story, it's pretty obvious, but it was literally world changing. Not just life changing, it was world changing. So let's just look at what the actual Bible says. Now this is the third resurrection story in Luke's Gospel after the crucifixion.

If you recall, the women had gone to the tomb to repair the body, found the stone rolled away, but nobody but an angel. I mean, you don't normally expect to find one of them, but an angel had appeared to them to say, he is not here, he is risen. And the women had gone running back to the apostles and the other disciples. It wasn't just the 11 of them to tell them what they had seen and heard, and they were not believed.

However, Peter thought, I'll take a look for myself. So I love Peter, I love Peter. He gets things sometimes so right and then things so wrong. And it fills me with hope, actually.

But he is amazed at the empty tomb. He can see that Jesus isn't there and he doesn't get it. Last week we looked at the road to Emmaus when Jesus was talking to two of the disciples about the scriptures and how necessary it was for the Messiah to die. And Ben spoke about the Hebrew scriptures which pointed the way Jesus. However, if you remember, it wasn't until they'd actually sat down together and ate together that their eyes were opened as to who they were sitting with.

And then Jesus promptly disappears. But like the women, these two people, Luke records them as Cleopas and Simon. These two people are so excited about what they've just heard and witnessed that even though it's now evening, if you remember, it was the evening, even though travelling at night is dangerous in any part of the world, particularly then they knew they had to walk the eight miles back to Jerusalem and tell the disciples straight away. So off they go. So the women have told them Peter has seen the empty tomb and the two disciples have rushed back to Jerusalem and reported actually eating with Jesus.

And yet we read that they were discussing or talking about it. Not that they were excited or joyful or expectant or filled with anticipation or wondering. I suspect they were of the view that we often have of if something is too good to be true, it probably isn't. And this is important because it answers one of the accusations levelled against Christianity that the disciples made up the resurrection story. Here we can see that the disciples, having seen the brutal death of Jesus after all, the Romans were pretty experts in their field, firmly believed he was dead and gone.

They doubted their friends. It goes against the notion that the disciples so badly wanted to believe that Jesus rose from the dead that they thought they saw him, but actually did not. What is quite evident is that they were not expecting to see the resurrected Jesus in spite of everything he told them. And if you recall, we did a series through Mark when Jesus three times was telling them about that Jesus had to die and he would rise again. They had not taken it in.

They believed that death was still final. So is it any wonder that when Jesus suddenly appears before them, they were startled and terrified, thinking they'd seen a ghost. Can we really blame them? I think anyone in the same situation would have felt exactly the same. I know I would have done.

To reiterate, they were not expecting to see him. And he greets them with these words, peace be with you. Luke talks a lot about peace in his Gospel. Jesus understood just how bewildered and scared frightened they were. But he also challenges them.

Why are you troubled? And why do doubts rise in your minds? I mean, I've told you so why are you doubting? To prove he was not a ghost, but a resurrected person. He offers this evidence of the scars on his hands and feet and he invites them to touch him.

But they still struggle to come to terms with this reality. I love the words of verse 41. They still did not believe it because of joy and amazement. Now their emotions must have been all over the place and so powerful that they were temporarily struggled to process the reality of Jesus presence with them. I don't think it was down to a lack of faith, but simply that it was so overwhelming that their minds struggled to take it in.

Coming face to face with the risen Jesus can tend to do that to you. Second, Jesus eats, brought fish with them. It's a second proof that this is a physical resurrection. Later, when Peter's preaching to Cornelius and his household, Peter tells them how they ate and drank with the risen Jesus. It was explaining that Jesus had really risen from the dead because he had seen it for himself.

It wasn't a ghost, but a corporeal or physical body. Just not the same as the previous one. After all, he simply appeared and then just disappeared. And as I was speaking to Neil earlier, we could have had a completely new sermon here on what the resurrection means in terms of new creation and new bodies and new earth and new heaven. But that's going to have to wait for another day.

Can all breathe a sigh of relief now?

So. And then we read. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. If you recall, he'd opened the eyes of the disciples in Emmaus when they saw him as they sat down together in the light of what they had just seen and were come to terms with. Jesus addresses this question of why they doubted because it had already been written about.

The Scriptures must have taken on a completely new meaning, even for a group of people who had been taught it since they were near to a grasshopper.

Now Jesus is going through it with them again and how wonderful it must have been for them. To once again sit at the feet of the Rabbi. But now, as I said earlier, this world has changed. Everything that they knew and understood had changed. All that God had been promising previously had actually come true.

And the evidence was there before them.

We sometimes lose the impact of how wonderful, how amazing that must have been. We've got 2,000 years to give. Get used to it. This was later on in the evening, you know, it was just there. So he's gone through the Scriptures and explains everything in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.

Interestingly, previously they don't mention Psalms, but we're not told which verses he's referring to. There could have been any. But let's just look at an example from each of one of those. So from Moses in Deuteronomy, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. And I will put my words in his mouth.

He will tell them everything I commanded him. And Isaiah, this really famous reading that I think most of us will know. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him.

And by his wounds we are healed. And from Psalms, dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircle me. They pierce my hands and feet. As I said, we don't know what Jesus referred to. Those were just examples.

And then we come to the reason why Jesus had to suffer and die. In verse 46, Jesus said to them, it is written that the Christ should suffer. It's the same lesson we heard in verse 26 on the road to Emmaus. Why was it necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into glory? It may be hard for us to understand, but Jesus suffering was planned by God.

It was written that Christ's suffering was necessary. And the disciples really took this on board. In Acts 2, Peter says that Jesus you crucified. That was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Jesus death on the cross was planned and written about long, long before it happened.

The purpose of his death is clear. 1 Peter. Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

But the resurrection had always also been a part of God's plan. It was written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. It was God's plan for Christ to die and to rise again. Hosea. After two days he will revive us.

On the third day, he will raise us up and we will live before Him. And if you look at verses 47 and 48, we can see that the third part of God's plan is. Is a proclamation of repentance and forgiveness of sins for everyone, starting in Jerusalem. Three elements. Death.

Resurrection. Proclamation. We know this as the Great Commission. Jesus calls his disciples because of what they have seen and heard. We too are called to be witnesses.

In our Easter service last week, we used the words of a special declaration of faith. I'm just going to read it. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried. He was raised to life on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Afterwards, he appeared to his followers and to all the apostles. This we have received and this we believe. The resurrected Christ was no disembodied spirit, nor was Jesus simply a resuscitated corpse. Jesus is not a ghost. He was.

And he is a real person. The resurrected Christ has a body. And even if we as his followers cannot now physically embrace him, we can bear witness to more than just a spiritual, mythological Saviour when we talk about Jesus resurrection. This is the foundation of our faith that Jesus conquered death and rose again. And he conquered death so we could be reconciled to God through repentance and forgiveness of sins, which is what Jesus says in this reading.

If the resurrection had not happened, there could have been no forgiveness and no new life in Christ. If the resurrection had not happened, it would have meant Jesus was a fake prophet. After all, he had declared himself to be the resurrection and the life. If the resurrection had not happened, Jesus would not even have been a good man because it would have been utterly deceitful and people died because of it. Paul says this really succinctly in 1 Corinthians.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

So where does that leave us? Like the disciples, we too can come with our doubts and our confusion, our fears and misunderstandings. And that's okay. We're human. And it's actually healthy to question.

Blind faith is no faith at all. But in the end, everyone has to come to their own conclusion about whether Jesus really is the Son of God and really did rise from the dead and then make their own decision to whether to turn to Him. But if we do believe, if we can accept the mystery and the miracle of the resurrection and accept Christ, we too can also embrace the joy and the hope that the resurrection brings through His Spirit, we can know his presence with us and know the risen Christ. We too can eat with Christ here when we have the Eucharist together. And if we believe, if you know what you believe, we are tasked to take this message out like the disciples, to proclaim Jesus everywhere.

Now, we read more about this in the Book of Acts that the children are going to be looking at. But if you look at the Book of Acts at the end of Acts, it just suddenly stops and it says that Paul stayed there for two more years. We hear nothing more. But the mission was not completed. It was not completed by Paul, the apostles or disciples in the first century.

And it will not finish until Christ comes again. It's up to us. Being witnesses for Christ is not just for a few special people. Evangelism is not for a particular group within the church. It's not an outreach project or a special mission, although they all do have their place.

And yes, there are some people with a special gift for evangelism. Think of it as evangelism with a capital E. But evangelism, witnessing, sharing the good news of Jesus is, or it should be, the natural response for anyone receiving forgiveness of sins through the risen and living Saviour. It isn't complicated if we believe, if we know what we believe and trust in. We are simply to tell the story of Jesus and proclaim that forgiveness of sins is available because Christ loved us, died for us, and rose from the dead.

We are called to point people to Jesus to share the good news and our own testimony, to enable others to discover a relationship, new life in Christ. We are to be his witnesses to the truth of the resurrection and then leave it to God to do the rest. Amen.