seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 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.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 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.”
50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
a. Luke 24:13 Or about 11 kilometers
This is from the easy English site.
The women told the 11 apostles and all the other disciples what had happened. Their report was so strange that the apostles did not believe the women. The story sounded like nonsense to them. They did not expect Jesus to rise from death to life. But Peter and John ran to the grave. Peter looked into the grave and he saw the grave clothes. He went in. And he saw how the cloth for the head was separate from the rest of the grave clothes. If someone had removed the body, that person would not have left the clothes in the grave. This convinced John that Jesus’ body had come out of those clothes (John 20:2-10). They went home and Peter wondered about these things.
Jesus asked what they were talking about. Then they told him about their hopes and disappointments. They believed that Jesus was a prophet. They thought that he was more than a prophet. What Jesus had said was clearly from God. Jesus had done many powerful deeds. They had seen the power of God in Jesus. Perhaps he was the Christ who would free God’s people from all their enemies. That was what they had hoped. But it seemed as if all of this had failed completely.
Jesus broke the bread and he gave it to them. And it was as if something opened their eyes. Perhaps they saw the nail marks in his hands for the first time. Maybe God chose that moment to show them that Jesus was his Son. However, now they knew that the stranger was Jesus. He really was alive again. As soon as they recognised him, he vanished from their sight.
Although Jesus was alive, the disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They made sure that they had shut the doors. Nobody could come in unless one of the disciples opened the doors from the inside. It was by now quite late at night. While they spoke about him, Jesus himself came there among them. This physical world could not limit his new body. He was able to appear when and where he chose.
His sudden appearance must have been quite a shock to them. Nobody had let Jesus in. He was just there in the room. He greeted them with the words, ‘Peace be with you.’ But they were afraid. They thought that he was a spirit. It could not really be Jesus.
By this time, the disciples clearly realised that Jesus is God. They worshipped him. Jesus had gone from them. When he left them at Golgotha (the place of his death), they were sad. Now, as he left them to go to heaven, joy filled their hearts. And they returned to Jerusalem.
Luke... a doctor.... would have been very interested in the particulars of the human body surviving death. I figure if Luke were around today... he would be the one in the tomb taking swabs and snips to take back to the lab. Luke... a doctor.... found more evidence than Matthew did. Mark didn't end with the resurrection.... he stopped short... probably because he was actually a scribe for Peter.... and Peter was in denial.... so someone else did a synopsis to close off the Gospel.... [IMHO that is]
So far... none of them has discussed the Roman Seal being broken. None of them has discussed the Roman Guard who was assigned to guard the tomb against the resurrection. Up until Luke... all we had was an empty tomb. Luke is the one that described the evidence. He's the one that describes the event as a resurrection rather than a theft.
I've always been hard on the Apostles and the disciples for not believing the women. I always figured, as a woman myself, they should have known the women had been there to finish the embalming..... but then again... as Luke reported.... there were some extra details that just didn't make sense. Who would steal a body and leave the clothes? Who, in the days of Jesus, would want to be discovered carrying a naked, beaten bloody, dead body around the streets in the middle of the night? And what descendant of Jacob [Israel] would want to touch a naked man? it would take forever to get "clean" again. So it would put the blame for the missing body on a Gentile..... boy that would start a rebellion.
Luke has reported that Jesus walked, talked, touched, and ate a meal. That's a lot of information. His clothes were like normal. I mean when He was walking down the road and talking to them... He wasn't glowing.... He was normal.... He wasn't naked.... He was normal. Luke... the doctor.... says that Jesus used that "normal" body to visit with humans over the next forty days..... He wasn't naked.... He wasn't bloody or beaten..... He was clothed and healthy.
Luke reported that Jesus appeared in a locked room. Luke reported that Jesus disappeared.... vanished.... after breaking the bread. And then.... to beat it all... Luke recorded as fact that Jesus Ascended into Heaven.
So.... Jesus has conquered death. That's what He came to do. On that visit.... Jesus just tested and delivered the vaccine against death. Jesus was living proof that the human body could be put through all kinds of turmoil.... and survive.... and thrive..... and live forever. Jesus did it.
NOW... there's still the problem of good and evil. Now that humans can have eternal life..... it wouldn't be a good thing if the evil humans had eternal life as well.... that would just be eternal turmoil for everyone. Back in the Garden of Eden.... Genesis 3:22.... God had already figured that out... God put a guard on the Tree of Life. So now that humans have the chance to live forever.... Jesus will have to come back and get rid of the turmoil that will boil over with all the murderous idiots in the world today. I mean... what good is eternal life if I have to be miserable every day?
Jesus is coming back. So far... everything Jesus said He was going to do was done.... and now... He said He was coming back....
