Acts 1:9-14

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.


Dig Deeper
We live in a time when most people dislike their leaders. In the United States of America, there are virtually no political leaders that have a positive rating in nationwide polls. In fact, most people are more apt to decry or put down their leaders, including the President than they are to revere or praise them. It wasn’t always that way, though. I don’t mean to imply that there was once a time when all people adored their king or leader and praised whatever they did, but it is true that people in the ancient world took much more pride in who their leader was. It was generally believed that a leader like a king or emperor was the representative of his people and what was true of that leader was true of his people. If a king was perceived to be powerful and mighty then so was the nation that he led. In the Roman Empire, many of the people had come to view the Emperors as divine. They celebrated this fact not so much because they adored the Emperor, although some did, but more so because if the Emperor was great and divine, then it meant that they were a powerful nation that would last forever.

Romans began to believe that the Emperor was divine beginning with the first Emperor, Julius Caesar. It seems that this belief increased with each passing emperor during the first century. Because of this believed divinity, it was often claimed that when emperors died that their souls would ascend into the afterlife to take their place with the gods. Roman mythology, in fact, was full of accounts of gods like Herakles, a son of Zeus, materializing on earth and eventually ascending back to heaven, so it only made sense to claim the same power and honor for the divine emperors. Although these claims were made, they were never actually rooted in empirical fact. It was more of a commonly shared myth and belief than anything anyone might have tried to actually defend or argue as a truth that would change anyone’s life.

Here, though, Luke has gone to great pains to paint a very different picture. All of those claims of divinity and godhood for the emperor were based on myths, Luke seems to be saying. They were a paltry counterfeit of the real thing, the real King. As he will carefully describe in this section, what happened to Jesus was no act of wishful thinking or fantasy and the state of Jesus’ divinity was no mere myth. This was all too real and it was about to be shown true not just through the testimony of the eyewitnesses but by the unlikely story of conquest through suffering and persecution that follows in the remainder of the book of Acts.
We first have to understand that Luke was not envisioning this scene the way that some 21st century person likely does. He is not imagining Jesus deftly floating up into the sky like an escaped balloon at a child’s birthday party that eventually disappeared out of sight behind a cloud several thousand feet in the air and then shooting off to a floating city that lies somewhere past the stratosphere. It’s easy for us to read this passage like that but that’s not what Luke would have meant at all by this passage.

Biblically speaking, the cloud, was a way of speaking about God’s space when it broke into the physical realm. It signified the presence of God himself (Ex. 16:10; 40:34; 1 Ki. 8:10-11; Ps. 104:3). When Luke described the witnesses as seeing Jesus disappear into the cloud, it is of this that he was making reference. Just as Elijah had been taken up into God’s presence and the mantle of being God’s witness to the world had been passed on to Elisha, so now Jesus was returning to his Father’s realm, heaven, and was passing on the mantle of being his witnesses to the disciples. It would now be up to them to carry on the work of the kingdom that he had initiated. It would be up to them to build the family that Jesus had created.
At its heart, then, Luke was describing a scene in which Jesus was enveloped by the very presence of God. The translation of verse 10 in the NIV doesn’t really help matters when it implies that they were looking up into the sky as though they really were like six year old children watching starry-eyed as their favorite balloon drifted out of sight. What the text actually says is that they were staring toward heaven (Luke uses the exact same word, “ouranos,” to describe where they were staring as is used in passages like Matthew 6:9 which says “Our Father in ‘ouranos’ or ‘heaven’).

As they watched the physically resurrected Jesus be enveloped by the glory cloud of God’s presence and disappear they were surprised. They had seen something like this before (see Luke 9:28-36) when Jesus was transfigured as Peter, James, and John stood by. But that time when the cloud receded, Jesus was still with them. It seems logical that they were staring into the place where glory cloud had ascended because they were expecting Jesus to still be there but he was no longer visible to them.

The poor disciples always seem to be understandably one step behind God’s plan and this time was no different. As they were standing there a bit befuddled by what had just happened as they watched Jesus ascend into the presence of God and take his place at the Father’s right hand (see Eph. 1:20-21; Phil. 2:9; Heb. 1:3; 2:9), two angels appeared in their presence and offered a gentle rebuke. Why were they just standing there? They had seen Jesus physically depart from them into the presence of God and they could rest assured that he would return in precisely this fashion one day. In the meantime the mantle of being a witness to Gods’ kingdom had passed to them.

The promise of Jesus’ return was not a reference to the popular but largely imagined doctrine of the rapture (a doctrine that did not appear until the 1830’s and was originated by a very sketchy group of mystics known as the Irvingites, although it has become quite popular in this century). The problem with the rapture theory, besides not being taught in the Scriptures themselves, is that the whole process goes in the wrong direction. Rather than Jesus coming and then leaving with believers, the Scriptures are clear that Jesus will return and dwell with his family forever (This includes the often misused Thes. 4:16-17 which clearly teaches that the Lord will return in the glory cloud of God where he will be “met” by believers, says Paul, using a very precise word that meant to meet a dignitary outside of a city and escort him back into your city). This is a clear prediction of the physical return of Jesus and the resurrection of all believers. It is the time when heaven and earth will be brought together (Eph. 1:10; Rev. 21:1-5) as Christ returns and brings the final salvation of renewal for the whole creation (Rom. 8:18-25) and the resurrection and transformation that is being stored in heaven (Acts 3:21; Matt. 19:28; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; Col. 1:3-5) for God’s sons and daughters who eagerly await his return from heaven (Rom. 8:23-25; Phil. 3:20-21). Jesus left their sight physically in the power and glory of God’s presence and he will return in the same way one day.

The disciples returned to where they were gathering together, a Sabbath’s day’s walk. This doesn’t mean that this took place on a Sabbath day but rather that the distance was about the amount that one could walk, according to Jewish tradition, on a Sabbath, which was a distance of nearly ¾ mile (about 1 km). They, no doubt, had quite a bit to talk about as they arrived to a group that included the eleven apostles (minus, of course, Judas Iscariot), the women disciples, Jesus’ mother, and his brothers. There are two things of note in that list. The first is the special mention of the women, something that would have run counter to normal societal practices to downplay or not mention the women at all. The second is that Jesus’ brothers have moved decidedly from the camp of skeptics and unbelievers (see John 7:5) to the ranks of the true believers, something that was almost assuredly a result of Jesus’ resurrection appearances to them (see 1 Cor. 15:7).

Jesus had promised them an incredible outpouring and baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5) and now they would wait together and in prayer for that promised to be fulfilled. Luke tells us that they were “constantly” in prayer, a word that carries the meaning of doing something resolutely, steadfastly, persistently, and to persevere without fainting. Luke draws special attention to the fact that the disciples spent their time waiting for the Spirit in the proper action of constant and united prayer for God to act. Although Jesus had called them to “go” and baptize people of all nations into God’s family, they had finally learned the lesson that they were unequipped to do this under their own power. They would pray until the Spirit came upon them and enabled them to complete their mission. They would go, but not before they waited for the Spirit to lead them. This is certainly a lesson that Christians of each generation need to remember.

Devotional Thought
Do you gather together consistently with other believers to “constantly” pray for God to work among you, for him to fulfill his promises to believers, and to be prepared to follow the Spirit wherever he leads you all? Take some time today to consider what that might look like and what it might demand of you to do this if you don’t regularly already.

Acts 1:6-8

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."


Dig Deeper
My family recently had the opportunity to spend almost a month in Southern Africa traveling around, teaching from the Bible and gathering together with disciples from various different places in the Southern part of that great continent. My wife and I have been there several times now and our eldest son was returning for his second trip, but our youngest son, our seven-year old, was going to go for the first time. Needless to say he was quite excited to go and couldn’t wait for the day to arrive when we would leave, although to be honest, I don’t know if his initial excitement was greater for the actual experience of being in Africa or the specter of nearly twenty hours of uninterrupted video game playing and movie watching on the plane. He would constantly ask if it was time to go on our trip yet and each time we would patiently explain to him when we would be leaving. Then about a week before the trip, we had a smaller out-of-town trip that would be overnight so we packed our bags and prepared to go. This put our son in a near-fever pitch. Surely the time for our trip had finally come. This must be it. He was ready to explode. But, we once again had to temper his excitement. This wasn’t yet the time but it would be soon.

At first glance, this short section of Scripture might seem quite similar to the above example, and in some ways it is. The apostles were like many other Jews who were expectantly waiting for the kingdom of God to come. In their understanding that would be the time when the promises of God, given through the prophets, would be fulfilled. It would be the time when the Messiah would finally set up God’s people to be the exalted people through whom the whole world would be blessed. Israel, they believed would be exalted among the nations, with God himself returning to rule the entire world through his people. All the nations would be judged for their rebellion against God and their persecution of his people, but yet they would somehow be blessed through the rule of God’s kingdom as well. In short, all of God’s promises would be fulfilled. Although Jesus’ answer is, in some respects, similar to ours to our son. It was not yet time although it would be soon. Yet, in a very real way, the answer is much more complicated than that.

Isaiah’s great prophecy, among many other similar Old Testament prophecies, would finally be fulfilled they hoped: “In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths’. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isa. 2:2-4). To be honest, when I first came across this passage, I found it confusing. Isaiah spoke of all nations coming to the Lord and laying down their instruments of war and turning them into instruments of peace, but the world has been full of war since the coming of the last days (the time time between the coming of the Messiah and the onset of the Resurrection Age). Then I realized that I was making the same mistake that Jesus’ disciples were making. I was looking at things from the wrong angle. This passage doesn’t promise that when the Messiah comes, people of all nations of the world will come to peace. This passage isn’t about the so-called end-of-times at all. It is a promise that when the Messiah comes, people will come to the new Temple (the place where God’s presence is found on earth). It is a promise that people from all nations will come to be part of God’s people and they, who were formally at war with one another would now live at peace as one people, one family. It is a promise about what God’s kingdom and family will look like. It will be one people of all nations who live in peace with one another.

Despite Jesus’ many attempts to explain the kingdom to them and their role within it, there were still a few misconceptions that needed to be cleared up. The kingdom would not be what most Jews of their day were expecting. They would have to let go of those ideas once-and-for-all in order to fully and finally grasp what Jesus was really up to. They were still under the impression that, although Jesus was a different Messiah than they had expected, that he was going to restore Israel according to their expectations. His crucifixion had thrown a wrench into that and made them think that perhaps they had gotten it all wrong. It caused them to begin to ponder if he was not the one and this was not the time. But his incredible and unexpected resurrection had changed all of that. Resurrection was what was supposed to happen, according to the prevailing Jewish belief, when God’s presence flooded the earth and his kingdom had finally come. So what were they going to do with all of that? They seem to have thought that perhaps Jesus’ ascension or his promise of the coming baptism of the Spirit would finally be the time when all of those nationalistic expectations had been fulfilled.

But they were seeing things from the wrong angle. First of all they needn’t worry about times and dates because the answer to when the kingdom would come is not simplistic enough to sum up with a specific time. All of that is up to the authority of the Father anyway. But if they wanted to know when the kingdom would come they needed to change their viewpoint. When the Holy Spirit came, which would be soon enough, then they would finally have the ability to be his witnesses. The nation of Israel had been called to be God’s witnesses to the nations (Isa. 43:10; 44:8) but they had failed in that task. The task that Israel had faltered in had been taken up by Jesus under the authority of the Father that had been given to him, and he had subsequently shared the power to complete that mission with his disciples. God’s plan was always to have a people, one family that would draw people from all the nations. These people would be a light for the whole world so that God’s salvation would “reach the ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). This was the mission that was about to begin through Jesus’ disciples (v. 8; see also Acts 13:47).

The answer wasn’t as simple as when exactly would the kingdom come. Nor was Jesus’ answer as simple in content as many still today would like to make it. Jesus’ response was not to rebuke the disciples for their eagerness in wanting the time to have finally come and to tell them that they had it all wrong, that it wasn’t going to be an earthly kingdom but a heavenly one where they should just go about and prepare people to escape this world and go off to heaven one day.

They were waiting for a specific moment when God’s kingdom would come, when the presence of God would flood the earth, Israel would rise above the nations as a light to the world and would rule over the world as God’s true people, the promised family. From one perspective they had it all wrong but from another perspective, it would all come into focus if they would just change the angle from which they were looking. It all hinged on the resurrection of Christ, the very thing that they would be witness to. When Jesus walked into death and strode out of it, defeating it, he was the embodiment of the age to come. The resurrection had come through Jesus Christ as the firstfruits (1 Cor., 15:20) guaranteeing that the rest would come one day. And God’s presence would flood the earth through his Holy Spirit who would serve as a deposit guaranteeing that God’s full presence would come one day (Eph. 1:13-14). The kingdom would come not through calling people out of this world but by witnessing that the future had broken into the present. Those who entered into Christ would enter into the age to come, guaranteeing them to be there when the fullness of God’s age to come does come. They would begin to bring the physical realm under the rule of heaven, one person at a time. They would call out people from all nations to become the promised family of God (Rev. 5:9-10), a family that would be God’s witnesses, that would be a light to the ends of the earth, and would prepare themselves for the day when the fullness of God’s salvation, and kingdom, being stored up in heaven, flooded the earth and finally brought the realms of heaven and earth together for eternity (Matt. 19:28; Eph. 1:10; Rev. 21:1-5; Col. 1:5; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; Acts 3:21).

The kingdom was coming soon but the coming of the kingdom would also be a long way off. The resurrection had already happened in Christ, but the resurrection of believers would be a long way off. Salvation was coming to all people, but the final salvation would be a long time off. In the meantime, Jesus’ new family would live in the unique time between the coming of the kingdom when it had broken into the present age through the resurrection and ascension of Christ and the final and complete coming of the kingdom. His disciples would be those who live by the values and reality of the coming age and show the world what it looks like. They are those who are living as though it is daytime because they know that the day is coming even though the world is entrenched in the darkness of the night (see Rom. 13:11-14; 1 Thess. 5:4-11). They were being given the power of the Spirit and a mission that will serve as a model of sorts for the rest of the book of Acts. They were to go Jerusalem, which will be covered in chapters 1-7; to Samaria as will be outlined in 8:-11:18; and then the mission to go to the ends of the earth is picked up for the remainder of the book. Yet the description of the formation of God’s promised family ends rather strangely in chapter 28. In fact, the books of Acts has no proper ending at all. As we continue on through the remainder of the book of Acts, see if it doesn’t become clear why that is.

Devotional Thought
On a smaller scale, it has been pointed out that each Christian family, wherever they are at, should have the same focus of their immediate community (their Jerusalem), the surrounding area (their Samaria), and the ends of the earth. Spend some time praying today for each of those areas for your local Christian family and then be active in that mission.

Acts 1:1-5

We're Back. We will be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in November and hope to return to a full five-day a week schedule in December or January.


Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven 1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with [a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with [b] the Holy Spirit."



Dig DeeperWhen I was just six years old the movie “Star Wars” came out. It was a phenomenon immediately and everyone wanted to see it. In fact, the movie amazingly stayed in my hometown as a first-run showing in the theater there for well over one year. One of the main characters of that movie was a Jedi Knight named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan was a central character that heroically marched into his own death and laid down his life for the benefit of others. So a few years later when the sequel to “Star Wars” came out it was bitter sweet because it would be another “Star Wars” movie but one without Obi-Wan, or so I thought. I was wrong, though. Obi-Wan did make a few important appearances in the next two Star Wars movies. His ghost-like appearance burst into a few scenes here and there but he was no longer a main character.

Although there might be a few similarities there between Obi-Wan’s journey in the Stars Wars series and that of Jesus Christ, it would be quite a disservice to think that the book of Acts is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke with the ghost-like Jesus making a few important appearances but really just fading into the background as a secondary character as the real work of the mission carried on without him, as was the case with Obi-Wan. Luke is quite clear that this is a continuation of his previous writing, which we call the Gospel of Luke, but the reality is that originally these were two parts of the same work and were considered as such for at least the first century of their existence until they slowly came to be seen as separate entities in their own right.

In the ancient world of Luke’s time it was quite common to break up one piece of work into separate parts with a quick summary of the previous work that served as a brief introduction for the second part. That’s exactly what Luke did here. But when Luke says that his former book had to do with “all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven,” he doesn’t mean that this second part was going to go on and talk about something else. Quite the opposite in fact. This work is a continuation of the previous work which means it is a continuation of all that Jesus did and taught. But Jesus had also promised that he would continue to be with his disciples but in a different and even more powerful way. He would constantly reveal himself to them through the work and power of the Holy Spirit. That’s what this book is about. Although it has traditionally been called “The Acts of the Apostles” since around the late 2nd century, it could rightly be called, as some have pointed out over the years, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” At it’s heart, though, this book is not a sequel. It is not something entirely new. It is precisely a continuation of the kingdom-bringing work of Jesus Christ.

Before we move on, though, there is one other contrast with “Star Wars” that we need to clear up. Obi-Wan did return to the thick of things on occasion but he was little more than a ghost. Luke is quite clear that the resurrected Jesus was anything but a ghost. He was the prototype of the resurrection body that is promised to all believers. He is the firstfruits of the age to come and he was very real. He spent time with them, taught them, ate with them, and gave them constant proof that he was real, physical, and material. He was not anything less than physical and material, but his resurrection body was actually more than that. The goal of God’s universe, as is made clear by passages such as Ephesians 1:10 and Revelation 21:1-5 is that the separated realms of heaven and earth will be brought together for eternity. At the time of the resurrection of all believers, God will bring together and unite heaven and earth and will be with his people in full presence forever. Jesus is the place where that bringing together of heaven and earth, the age to come, broke into the present age. His resurrection body was at home in the physical realm (which is why he could eat and perform quite normal functions) but it is also quite at home in the spiritual realm (which is apparently why locked doors seemed to be no obstacle for him).

At the heart of this ongoing story, addressed to the same Theophilus as the first section is, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Gospel of Luke pointed ahead to and culminated in that seminal event and everything in Acts emanates from that same event. And Luke wants us to know from the beginning that there was no mistaking what had happened. Jesus really did physically raise from the dead. His grave really was empty. In fact the word that Luke used that is translated as “convincing” was actually a technical term used by the Greeks to indicate something that was conclusive with no other alternative. Jesus was alive and they were to be his witnesses, not just about his resurrection but about the kingdom of God itself. The kingdom had indeed broken into the present age and it would be their vocation to go announce that to the world (a topic we will consider in more detail tomorrow).

The book of Acts is a theological history of the ongoing action of God through the life of Jesus Christ and the continuing power and unifying work of the Holy Spirit to bring about his kingdom. It is that simple in one respect, but the reality that coming to a unified understanding of the book of Acts has proved to be elusive over the years. Some have viewed it as nothing more than a nice story with more myth and wishful thinking than anything else. Wiith a critical look at the reliability of Acts as an account that contains factual information, however, we can safely reject this view. Others have seen it as an authoritative blueprint that gives the commands and examples necessary to constructing a proper and biblical religious institution called the church. Still others view Acts as a paradigm for connecting with and accessing the miraculous and incredible power of the Spirit. Luke, however, seems largely uninterested with any of those possibilities as being anywhere near his primary purpose.

At the heart of Luke and Acts are the promises of God. God promised that he would have one family that consisted of all nations (Gen. 17:3-5; Gal. 3:7-8) and this is a picture of the foundations, formations, and ongoing identity of that promised family. Acts is simply not a rule book for constructing a rightly ordered religious institution, nor is it a spiritual handbook for the miraculous and amazing. It is a map. It is a blueprint that shows us the way to creating the family that God desired his people to be. We can easily begin to build the wrong structure, though, if we aren’t clear on what the finished product should be. God promised a family (Gen. 12:1-3; 17:3-5), Jesus delivered a family (Mark 3:31-35; 10:28-30), and as we continue through Acts we will see a beautiful mosaic of that family being formed as the Holy Spirit works within the foibles, shortcomings, and prejudices of human beings. We need to keep all of that mind as we go so that we don’t try to make Acts into something that it was never intended to be. Acts is about the creating of the church but a church that is a family not a religious institution.

It is a picture of a family, true enough, but it is a family that would rely on the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wanted his disciples to be clear that they would not be able to be the fulfillment of God’s promised family, his kingdom, on their own strength or ability. They did not have the power to change the world but the Holy Spirit did. So, they would stay put and not do anything until he came upon them. They had forty days after Jesus’ resurrection to be with Jesus and learn from him about being his witnesses but they still would fail miserably until they had the power of the Spirit. They needed to wait for that.

The needed to wait for the powerful baptism of the Spirit that would empower them to be Jesus’ witnesses all over the world and would give them the ability to be unified as the promised family of God. But what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of being baptized with the Holy Spirit?

The answer to that question has become more varied over years, especially over the last hundred or so years. It has become increasingly popular to assert that there is a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that is available to believers at a point and time after their salvation as a second work of God’s grace. This “baptism in the Spirit” is usually said to be accompanied by miraculous gifts of the Spirit, most typically the ability to speak in ecstatic utterances known as “tongues.” According to this view, those who have been baptized with the Spirit are those who have attained a higher spiritual level, one to which all believers should strive to attain.

Despite the growing popularity of such a view, there is little, if any, actual biblical substance to back up such a belief and most who hold to this view are left to rely on shaky biblical interpretation, tradition (and mostly recent tradition at that), and experiences. In fact there are but seven references to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and six of them, including this reference in verse 5, refer to John’s contrast between his symbolic baptism of repentance and the baptism of dying to self and entering into the life of Christ and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit that would become available following the death and resurrection of Christ (see Rom. 6:1-10; Acts 2:38; see also Acts 19 :1-5 where the line of distinction between the pre-resurrection baptism and the post-resurrection baptism will be clearly drawn). John’s baptism with water pointed to the real thing, the baptism into Christ that was still in water but now was the point of contact with the promised Spirit. John’s point was to draw a distinction between his symbolic baptism and the one that would truly bring about entrance into the family of God and the reception of the Holy Spirit who would unify God’s children into this promised family. That is the point of 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, the only other mention of being baptized with or by the Spirit into the one body. The Spirit’s role here is to create and unify the promised family of God.

To properly understand the baptism of the Spirit, we must realize first of all that after the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out, fulfilling the promises of God (Ezek. 36:24-27) and of Jesus (Jn. 14-16), there is no biblical example of believers being said to be baptized with the Spirit. Pentecost, as we will see in chapter 2, was the anointing or the baptizing of Jesus’ believers with the Spirit, an action that has never been withdrawn and has continued to be available to all men and women when they are baptized into the life of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin (Acts 2:38). It is also important to note that the disciples were told to wait for the anointing of the Holy Spirit but no believers since then have been told to wait or look for a second outpouring of grace at a “baptism with the Spirit.” We simply cannot claim that the baptism of the Spirit is anything other than the outpouring of the Spirit initiated at Pentecost and continually made available to all believers through water baptism into the life of Christ. This is an outpouring of the Spirit that has never been withdrawn and to insist on a second work of grace through a second baptism not only stands in clear violation of Ephesians 4:5 which declares clearly that there is just one baptism (many claim that there are actually three baptisms available today for believers and claim that Paul here refers just to the “one” baptism that he is speaking of in the context of this passage but consistency would then demand that if Paul said there was one baptism but there are really three that there could actually also be three faiths, three Lords, three hopes, three Gods over all and so on). The erroneous view of the Spirit’s baptism would also contradict Romans 8:9, which says that all believers have the Spirit, not that some have some of the Spirit but should be waiting for a second outpouring.

As we continue reading the book of Acts, what will slowly come into view is a family picture. An account of the anointing of God’s people with his promised Spirit. It is an invitation to come and see what it looked like when God began to form his family and a further invitation to come join in and continue the story. It is the story of God’s promises, his fulfillment, and the Spirit through whom it all happened and continues to happen.

Devotional ThoughtLuke reminds us here in verse 3 that a central aspect of the concept of early Christianity was a willingness to suffer for the benefit of others. Do you embrace that aspect of Christianity or do you try to escape the call to lay down our lives and being willing to suffer so that others might come to the family of God?

Good morning all. I had initially said that we would begin our study of the book of Acts in September and that was my plan at the time. I have had so many people ask me to write a book, however, that I have finally decided to get that done. I only have a limited amount of time to write each day, though, so I have decided to take the rest of this month and the month of October to complete this book and then the plan is to start on the book of Acts study in November. I hope to resume our devotionals on November 8th. I know that I have heard from so many of you that are eager to get the devotionals going again and I apologize for that. I hope that everyone understands. In the meantime, you can access studies on many other New Testament books that we have done previously at www.foxvalleychurch.net on the Bible study resource page.

Luke 24:36-53 Commentary

Personal Note: I want to thank so much all those who take the time to read these and who take the time to drop me little encouraging notes from time to time. With this post, we come to an end in the Gospel of Luke. Due to our upcoming ministry trip to Africa this will be the last devotional until September. In September we will start back up again regularly with the book of Acts.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples
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."

The Ascension of Jesus
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.



Dig Deeper
There was quite a big news splash during this year’s off-season period in the National Basketball Association. Every year, during the off-season, there are always many free agents, men whose contracts have expired and who are free to sign with any team that they choose. Usually a few big-name players switch teams and many other role players switch teams and it usually changes the balance of power between a couple of teams here and there but it usually isn’t a major determining factor in who the best teams in the NBA are. That all changed this off-season as unprecedented events took place. Three of the ten best players in the entire NBA, including two of the three best players in the whole league decided that they wanted to play together and they all worked out their free agency and took a lot less money so that they could join the same team, the Miami Heat. Suddenly, something that had never before happened was a reality. The Miami Heat had become arguably the best team in basketball overnight. They spent the rest of the week signing lesser role players that would fill out their team and make them a complete championship contender, a process that answered a lot of questions concerning who else would be on the team surrounding these three great players.

As it stands right now, all of the questions concerning whether they would be able to get players to surround these three great players have been answered. All of the pieces have been moved into place. They have had the parties introducing the new players and the new team as a whole to the fans. Everything is ready to go for the new season, except for one minor detail. They haven’t played a game yet. The NBA doesn’t just hand out the championship trophy to the team with the most impressive roster. It is now up to this collection of players who have been formed together as a team through rather improbable circumstances to go work things out now. They have to go implement the championship that has been prepared for them.

There is an element like this in this closing passage of Luke’s Gospel. The most incredible things have happened, things that the disciples could never have imagined. Jesus had resurrected from the dead and God’s new creation had come bursting forth into the routine of the present age in a way that no human saw coming. Yes, they were witnesses to incredible things and had been formed together as God’s new family, the fulfillment of all of God’s promises had come through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). But that wasn’t the end of things. It was now up to them to get busy working out the victory that Jesus had claimed. They were going to partner with God’s Holy Spirit to implement the victory that had already been prepared for them.

Before the first day of the week was even ended, there was one more amazing event that was about to occur. The disciples were still buzzing with all that had happened and were still trying to figure out exactly what was going on. It was, no doubt, one of those times when the mixture of excitement and continued uncertainty as to all of the details and things going on leads to absolute and almost uncontainable exhilaration. In the midst of this fray it would be easy to momentarily miss the fact that Jesus had appeared right in the middle of them. Their normal practice during this time was to lock the door for safety reasons but that was no obstacle for Jesus. As he stood among them, he declared the complete peace of God among them.

Their initial reaction was an understandable one and demonstrates that they were still trying to work everything out in their minds. They still were not quite used to seeing the resurrected Christ, and for some of them this was their first experience, and none of them were still quite sure what they were seeing. The TNIV’s rendering of the word “pneuma” as “ghost” is not only incorrect, it is quite unhelpful in helping us to understand what Luke was saying. They did not think that Jesus was a ghost as we would think of a ghost today, but they probably couldn’t comprehend how he could simply appear among them. To render the word as “spirit” would be much more correct and accurate. Was he like the angels or a spirit whose body was now accustomed to the spiritual realm but not fully at home in the physical realm? His appearance, though, was so unexpected that it frightened them. They just didn’t have categories in their minds to accommodate everything they were seeing, hearing, and experiencing.

Jesus, and Luke as the recorder of these events, wanted to make sure that there was no such misconceptions. He was not a spirit. There is an incredible mystery to the resurrection body, one that Paul spends much time in 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 working out, and even then most people today easily get confused with what he says. The simple point is that the resurrection body is not a spirit or a ghost-like existence. Jesus had real flesh and bone, meaning that he was just as material and physical as any other person in that room (note that he carefully does not say “flesh and blood” which was a figure of speech referring to the normal, sinful and fallen human state rather than a description of a physical body). If Jesus had only resurrected in spirit it would have not left an empty tomb. But Luke drives the point home to the full extent. They saw him; they could touch him; he even ate some fish. This was no spirit. Yet, how could it be that a normal physical body could just appear in rooms with little concern for doors or walls? The resurrection body is one that apparently is equally at home in both the physical realm and the spiritual realm. It is physical and material, but it is more than that, certainly not less. The resurrection body, then, will be perfectly at home in both realms of God’s creation. This seems difficult to grasp right now in the present age where the spiritual realm and the physical realm are still separated but the ultimate goal of God’s reconciliation and restoration of the universe (Matt. 19:28) is that heaven and earth will one day be brought together as one (Eph. 1:10).

This was all incredible and dizzying for them, but it was not new. Jesus had told them that all of this would happen, they just could not understand it yet. None of this was a surprise to Jesus and so they could rest assured that this was where things were going all along. God’s promises throughout the whole of the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, meaning the entirety of what we call the Old Testament, had pointed to this. It would be difficult to find any specific Old Testament passages that they said word for word what Jesus said in verses 45 to 49 but that’s not the point. Jesus’ point was that it takes insight to see that all in there, but it is there. This is where God’s promises were heading. I once read an online article that referred to verses 45-49 as a contradiction because none of Jesus’ statements can be found in the Old Testament. But if there were such clear and direct statements in the Old Testament then they would have hardly needed their minds opened. The whole point is that these passages need the discernment and the guidance of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in order to understand all of these things and to see that they were they all along.

Yes, this is where things were heading. This was God’s plan all along and all of the pieces have been put into place. The improbable had happened, Jesus had resurrected from the dead and opened the world to entirely new possibilities. But now that everything was in place, it was up to them to work it out and bring it to fruition. As Jesus opened their minds to what the Scriptures had pointed to the whole time, he also laid out what the challenge before them entailed.

The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. This was God’s plan from the very beginning. The Messiah would not come and be an exalted figure that led the armies of Israel to throw off her enemies and crush the pagans as many in Jesus’ day had hoped. He would suffer and take on the punishment that all human beings in rebellion against God deserved. This is what would open up the opportunity for all people to truly be in God’s family (Eph. 2:19). John the Baptist had preached repentance and forgiveness of sins (Lk. 3:3) but his was a message for people to prepare for such a time not to experience it fully (see Acts 19:1-6 where it makes clear that John’s baptism was a symbolic one that pointed to the real baptism of entry into the life of Christ). In Christ, that time had finally come. Jesus told them that repentance for the forgiveness of sin would be preached and be available in his name. It is important here to remember that first century Jews used the term “name” to stand for the totality of someone or their “life,” so those two terms were virtually interchangeable. His point, then, was that people who would repent (Acts 2:38) or die to themselves (Gal. 2:20) could be baptized into the life of Christ (Rom. 6:1-10), be forgiven of their sins (Matt. 28:19; Acts 22:16; Titus 3:5), and be clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:26-29; Col. 2:12-13; 3:3), meaning that they could enter into the corporate life and body of Christ as their new identity before God (1 Cor. 12:12-13) and receive the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Titus 3:5).

The time for this was coming very soon but it would not come through their own ability. They should not move a muscle until the Holy Spirit came upon them as he is the one that would change the world through them. This would all begin in Jerusalem but it would not stay there for very long. The message of the gospel and the salvation that was now available in Christ would be preached to all nations (Matt. 28:19) because God’s family would consist of all nations (Rom. 4:17; Rev. 5:9; Acts 10:34-35; Eph. 2:11-3:11). This is an absolutely central aspect of God’s family. Any Christian community that is not made up of all peoples and nations is not a demonstration of the true gospel. As Paul declared in Galatians 3:8 “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’” This is a particular important reminder as we live in a time when it is quite common for churches to split according to nationalities, languages, or skin colors. That is not the kingdom that God gave us. That is not the one family of many nations that we are called to be.

As Luke brings his Gospel to a conclusion, he skips ahead in verse 50 without any mention of how much time actually passed between verses 49 and 50. He simply prepares his readers for the next act which was, quite appropriately, the book of Acts. What Luke describes here in mere passing, he will return to in more detail in the first chapter of Acts. This then is almost like those scenes at the end of a television show that tease you with next week’s episodes so that you will be motivated to come back and watch next week. Jesus would not stay with them. He would ascend to heaven and the mission would be theirs to carry on through the power of the Holy Spirit.

After rightly worshiping Jesus, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with joy and anticipation, not knowing what would happen next but knowing that Jesus was in control and was not only far greater than they had imagined just a day before, but that he was deserving of something, namely worship, that was reserved for God alone.

And so, as Luke ends his Gospel, he ends where he began, in the Temple. As he opened the story of Jesus Christ, he began with Zechariah in the Temple. He has returned to the Temple time and again throughout the story whether it was descriptions of the young Jesus at the Temple, the warning of Christ of the judgment that was soon coming to the Temple and Jerusalem, or the descriptions of Jesus as the true Temple where people could come to experience the presence of God. God had repeatedly promised that he would come and dwell with his people and that has now happened. The presence of God was no longer at the Temple in Jerusalem but was revealed for all eternity in the person of Jesus Christ.



Devotional Thought
Jesus promised his disciples that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be available through his name and life. Have you truly experienced that life by dying to yourself and repenting and being baptized into his body? If that all sounds new, strange, or unnecessary, then perhaps like the women at the tomb, it’s time to “remember” Jesus’ words and have your mind opened.

Luke 24:28-35 Commentary

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.



Dig Deeper
One of my favorite stories in the entire Bible is the moment when Peter and the other disciples were fishing after Jesus’ death and they looked up and saw Jesus walking on the beach. The whole memorable scene is described in John 21. Peter rushes to the beach to see if it is really Jesus and finds that it is. This was the same Peter who had promised to be loyal to Jesus right to his own death if need be and vehemently denied that he would ever deny Jesus the way Jesus predicted that he would. Sadly, we all know that Peter did deny Jesus on three occasions. As John described those scenes of Peter’s denial, he very specifically uses an uncommon word in the New Testament to give us the detail that during his denials, Peter was standing next to a coal fire, warming himself on the chilly night. John, like the other Gospel writers didn’t really include details for no reason, so it stands out to us his readers that he specifically points out that this was a coal fire. If nothing else, coal fires have a very distinctive smell. So, it is an incredible detail, in my mind, when John tells us that when Jesus came to Peter on the beach in chapter 21, that he first had Peter build a coal fire to cook some fish on. Then, with the smell of that same type of coal fire wafting in the air, Jesus resolutely asked Peter three times if Peter really loved him, the same number of times that Peter had denied him. This was all no coincidence. Jesus wanted Peter to have a chance to reverse, in a sense, what he had done. He wanted him to have a memory of redemption that came back to mind every time he smelled a coal fire burning rather than thinking of the night of the betrayal. Jesus wanted to, in a real sense, undo what was done. He gave Peter a do-over and a chance at a new start.

As we have joined Luke on this long journey we should not forget that he promised all the way back in 9:31 that this was going to be a new exodus journey. We have followed along with Jesus as he resolutely made his way to Jerusalem to face down death and evil and have been right there as Jesus was seemingly swallowed up by death. But now something amazing has evidently happened. Luke is in the midst of telling us of the most amazing event in human history. This was how the new exodus was happening. But just as Peter needed to return, in a sense, and receive a do-over, that is exactly what Jesus has done for the whole human race. Humanity rebelled against God, which was the very cause of Jesus’ incarnation and crucifixion, but watch carefully as Luke masterfully describes the chance at a new start for fallen humanity. What humans really needed was a do-over, a new creation, and that is exactly what Luke describes in this passage.

As this scene continue to develop in the hands of the master writer Luke, he gives us the detail that as the three people approached the village of Emmaus, Jesus began to continue on as though his intent was to go further. Luke is continuing to build the tension of this scene. Will this be it for this encounter? Will these disciples ever learn the truth of who was walking with them, teaching them, and rebuking them on their slowness and lack of knowledge? It seems as if they are going to learn the truth and be reconciled with Jesus it will be because they deeply desire to know the truth. And that is exactly what happened. They strongly urged and tried to convince Jesus to stay with them. It was nearing nightfall and it was not a generally safe or good idea to travel once night fell. They invited Jesus to come in with them and stay the night so that they could continue to fellowship with and learn from this man whom they only knew as a stranger. But perhaps something inside of them was telling them that he was much more than a stranger if they would only spend some more time with him.

As they went into the place where these disciples were heading, the roles suddenly switch in what would have been a strange happening. They had invited Jesus in as a guest to spend the night with them but as soon as they sat down to eat, Jesus grabbed the bread and took the role of host. They were now his guests. As he took the bread, Luke tells us that he gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to them. Perhaps it was that the scales of un-recognition were finally and miraculously removed from their eyes, or maybe it was that they had seen and heard Jesus give thanks and break bread just like this before (Luke 9:16; 22:19), or maybe even it was the scars on his wrists as he reached the bread out to them. Whatever it was, it was at the moment that he reached out to hand them the bread that they recognized that it was Jesus. But they didn’t just recognize him. Something far more significant happened than just a mere recognition that it was Jesus that was with them after all.

There is a common theme that runs through many of the Gospel writer’s works as the focus on the period after Jesus’ resurrection. Let’s look at a few example and see if the theme becomes clear. In Matthew 28:18-20, as Jesus is giving his final instructions to his disciples, he tells them that they should go and create disciples of all nations to add to God’s one family. He told them, in other words, to be fruitful and multiply as the people restored in the image of God. What does that sound like? If you said Genesis 1:28, you are correct. In that passage, God tells his new creation, humanity, to be fruitful and increase in number so that they may fill the earth and subdue it. In Matthew 28 Jesus gives an echo of the same command to his new humanity. They are to be fruitful and increase in number so that they may fill the earth and subdue it.

Another example (although there are too many to discuss all of them here) comes in John 20:22 where Jesus appeared in a locked room to his anxious disciples. They had been, in a sense, created as God’s people through the death and resurrection of Christ but they were still waiting for the breath of life in them that would enable them to go out as God’s new humanity and transform the world. So as Jesus was talking to them, he “breathed on them” and sent the Holy Spirit into their midst. So what does that bring to mind? If you were thinking of Genesis 2:7 where God breathes the “breath” or “spirit” of life into his new human creation then you are right on track.

Now look at this passage again. As the disciples sit down to eat with Jesus, their eyes are suddenly opened. What other time in Scripture can you think of where two people (quite possibly a husband and wife in this scene) who ate and then their eyes were opened? Did Genesis 3:7 come to mind? That was, of course, the worst day in the history of humanity. Human beings, for the first time, reached out against God’s will to do their own, and sin was released like a virus into the world of human beings. Their eyes were opened to the world of exalting their own will over God’s. And here was a major problem as well. Peter had denied Jesus but he could also, with the help of Jesus, repent and retrace his steps, affirming his loyalty for Jesus. But humanity could not re-trace their steps. We could not fix the problem of sin and truly repent. But something new was breaking into the world at that very moment. They were taking part in a meal that had obvious echoes of the Lord’s Supper but it also retraced the steps of Adam and Eve. The disciples took the bread from Jesus and their eyes were opened suddenly to the new creation that had just broken into the present age. In Jesus’ death and resurrection something entirely new was available that had never been possible before. Jesus had served as humanity’s representative and had reversed the long, dark curse of humanity. Their eyes were opened to the new creation. It is the monumental theme of the resurrection opening up the new creation of God that is the common theme of all of the examples above.

As soon as their eyes were opened to the new world that had broken into the present age, Jesus was gone and they were left to ponder the depth of the mysteries that had been revealed to them. They immediately recognized that something was burning within them all along as Jesus was speaking to them on their walk down the road to Emmaus. They should have known all along. When the head knowledge of Scriptures that Jesus had shared with them mingled with the breaking of bread, they realized that their hearts were burning within them the whole time. So it still is today with God’s people that enter into the new creation and his new family by dying to self in baptism and raising to a new life (Rom. 6:1-10). When we combine a deeper understanding of the Scriptures as an entire unit that point as an entirety to the life of Jesus Christ with the sacrament of fellowship and breaking bread, we will truly be able to open our eyes to the new creation that is available in Christ. Proper theology comes from our heads and our hearts. Without our heads, our theology becomes emotional and often uncontrollable. Without our hearts, our theology becomes rigid and lifeless. We need both.

As the fullness of what had just happened began to dawn on these two disciples, they just couldn’t keep it to themselves. Despite the fact that it was getting late and they had convinced Jesus earlier that it was unwise and unsafe to continue any farther down the road, they couldn’t help themselves. They had to return to Jerusalem to tell the others in the family of believers what had happened. When they arrived in Jerusalem, presumably well after dark, they found the eleven (the twelve minus Judas) with the other disciples still gathering together. It was getting late but it was still Sunday, the first day of the week. Before they could speak and share their incredible story, the other disciples burst forth with their own exciting tales. The women weren’t crazy. The tomb was empty and it wasn’t because someone stole the body or some other logical explanation. The very thing that they were not expecting and had a hard time wrapping their minds around had happened. Jesus had resurrected and he had appeared to Simon Peter, an appearance that Luke doesn’t tell us about. It seems that Jesus was appearing all over the place on that first day. Only then could Cleopas and his companion share their incredible story. Imagine the excitement and awe of the disciples as one story after another burst into that room that day.

When we open our hearts to this story we will find that we can, at times, be very much like Cleopas and his friend that day. We can have times when we are confused, disappointed, and looking for Jesus. It is as those times that we need to return to God’s word and let the Spirit guide us as we look for a fresh word of insight from the Lord, and to breaking of bread with other believers as we connect with the risen Christ and the new creation that he has made available through his resurrection. When we do that, we will find the same thing that they discovered; that Jesus was right there with them all along.


Devotional Thought
Take a look around you as you go about your day today. Do you see any Cleopas’? Do you see any people that had great hopes and dreams for what their lives might look like or what kind of relationship they might have with God only to find disappointment and confusion. Pray that you have the spiritual eyes to see such situations but also that you are prepared to share the Scriptures with them in a way that is appropriate to the situation just like Jesus did. Perhaps as you do and as you spend some time with them, they will find their hearts burning within them as well and it won’t be from the lunch you’re sharing.

Luke 24:13-27 Commentary

On the Road to Emmaus
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 only a visitor to Jerusalem and do 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 him they did not see."

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.


Dig Deeper
Disappointment is one of the more difficult things in life to deal with. Especially the disappointment that comes when you put faith in someone and they don’t live up to your expectations. I have seen that so many times in the world of sports where a team will draft a young man and put the hopes of an entire city on his shoulders as the savior of the franchise. Seven years ago, an NBA team named the Cleveland Cavaliers experienced this. They drafted a young phenom named LeBron James right out of high school. He was touted to be the best pro prospect since Michael Jordan and his first few years in the NBA proved those predictions to be correct. But Cleveland didn’t want just a great player. They wanted someone who would single-handedly lead the team to many championships and spark an emotional and economic renewal for the entire city and even the state of Ohio. The expectations were truly unrealistic but they were something that LeBron tried to live up to and even, at times, encouraged. This summer, however, he became a free agent and after a lengthy and poorly handled process on his part in which he had team after team coming to woo him to their team, James decided to leave Cleveland for the Miami Heat. This decision absolutely stunned the Cleveland faithful who had convinced themselves that he would never leave them. He was, after all, from Ohio himself and he was going to be the savior of the whole area. But suddenly, in a flash, he was gone.

The disappointment that the people involved with the Cleveland Cavalier organization and the fans of the Cavaliers was overwhelming. People who had loved him and hailed him as their great hope were instantly downgrading him, calling him over-rated, and claiming that they never thought that highly of him. Ten-story billboards of James were torn down overnight and they quickly scrambled to erase any memories of James. But when reporters would go and talk to the fans on the street, they still seemed confused and hurt. They had no idea where their team was going to go now or how they would ever win a championship. All the hope that they had just a few days before had vanished in an instant.

The events that Luke has been describing are infinitely more important than any basketball player or an NBA championship but there is a parallel in there. It is the disappointment that people feel when something that they have put so much hope suddenly bursts. Luke masterfully built up the tension in the last scene as the women and then Peter came upon the empty tomb. Two angels told the women what happened but we don’t have any details yet. Luke wants us to identify with the confusion and lack of understanding that the disciples had in those moments. Now he will continue to mount the suspense as we join in with two disciples who are full of disappointment. Everything that they had hoped for seems to be gone. What will they do now? Where will they go? How will all of their hopes be fulfilled? Are they now facing a world where their great hopes of what God was going to do through his kingdom are now gone forever? It was all so disappointing. Or was it?

It is interesting as we join these two disciples on their journey to Emmaus, that Luke only gives us the name of one of the disciples, Cleopas. The usual assumption has always been that these two disciples were men, but it is quite possible that this Cleopas is the same person mentioned by John in John 19:25. John tells us of Clopas’ wife named Mary, a woman who is not mentioned by Luke as being among the group of women who went to Jesus’ tomb. So it is rather possible that the unnamed disciple accompanying Cleopas was, in fact, his wife, Mary.

Whoever the other disciple was, they were engaged in a rather lively discussion of all that had happened. The words used by Luke indicate that this was an intense discussion not just a regular conversation concerning the death and burial of Christ and the subsequent status of where his body might have been and just what exactly the women at the tomb had learned from these two angels. In the midst of this heated discussion, as they are trying desperately to figure out what has happened with Jesus and where exactly his body might be, Jesus came to them. But they were still in the dark in more ways than one. They didn’t recognize that the man who had joined them on their journey was the very man they were wondering about and looking for. The fact that people did not always immediately recognize the resurrected Jesus is one of those strange but recurring details of the resurrection accounts (Matt. 28:17; Jn. 20:14; 21:4, 12) that three of the four Gospel writers report but none of them try to explain. We could come up with many different theories but perhaps this is one of those things about resurrection that will remain mysterious until we actually take part in the resurrection ourselves one day (although it is just as likely that the inability to immediately recognize Jesus had miraculous purposes and was not something inherent to a resurrection body). What is apparent is that the body Jesus had was a real and very physical body, otherwise the tomb would not have been left empty. In some respects, his resurrected body was the same, but it was still somehow different. How that can be is something we will have to wait to have revealed to us.

As the two disciples walked along with Jesus, still not knowing the truth of who he is, Jesus asked they were talking about. This question seemed to shock the disciples as they assumed that anyone in the area of Jerusalem would have naturally known the incredible events surrounding Jesus’ last week and his crucifixion. It was the talk of the town so who could this stranger be that had not heard of any of this?

As they began to explain things to this man, the loss of their great hope became apparent. Who was Jesus? Well, he was a great prophet, that much they would never doubt. In declaring Jesus to be a prophet, however, they revealed their inner struggle. They had hoped that he would be the Messiah, the one that was going to redeem and exalt Israel. They had pinned all of their hopes on him but he had been crucified. They just could not envision a Messiah that would suffer and die. They failed to see that his crucifixion did not derail Jesus as the Messiah who was going to redeem Israel and the whole world. No, his crucifixion was the very means through which he was gong to redeem his people. But they just couldn’t see that. Messiahs should be defeating the pagans not dying on their crosses. That’s why they had apparently already downgraded him in their own minds. Maybe he wasn’t a Messiah after all, but just a prophet. To see a prophet suffer and die was no category mistake. That happened all throughout history to the prophets. So maybe he was a prophet, a mighty one at that, but sadly it appeared that that was all he was. Their hopes had been buried with Jesus in that tomb.

But the situation was becoming even more confusing for them by the minute. They had heard the reports of the women that Jesus body was not in the tomb. Notice that they pointed out that the women had not found the “body” rather than “Jesus.” Despite the confusion, they still believed that Jesus was dead. They just did not understand what was going on.

Imagine their surprise when this uninformed stranger began to rebuke them. They were “foolish,” not in the sense that they were unintelligent, silly, or ignorant but in that they were blind to the purposes of God in the world. They were in a haze and Luke is challenging his readers to recognize that and not join them in their foolishness. He is challenging us to see beyond Jesus’ crucifixion and see it not as the end of hope but the beginning.

If they would only return to the word of God and actually believe them, then they would perhaps see what they could not before. Like the women at the tomb, they needed to remember the word of the prophets and understand them in the same way that the women needed to remember and understand the words of Jesus. They needed to look afresh at the Scriptures and seek what God really said about what he would do with and through the Messiah rather than running everything through the paradigm of their expectations. If they did that they would see that God’s servant had to suffer before entering his glory. The suffering and death of the Messiah was not an obstacle for the Messiah to come into his glory, it was the very path he would travel to enter his glory.

Jesus then went through what had to be one of the most spell-binding biblical lessons ever taught as he showed them what the Scriptures said about the Messiah and God’s plans to bless the world. Jesus didn’t just pull out a couple of verses from here and there to demonstrate his point. He took them through the whole of the Scriptures and showed them how the entirety of them pointed to the Messiah that would serve as a representative for all of God’s people, and indeed the whole world, and take on the suffering and punishment that was due all of us. He no doubt left them with a deep ability to understand that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and he had fulfilled God’s will by marching to the cross. No longer would the suffering and cruel death of Jesus on the cross serve as a stumbling block for them. No longer would they think that he was merely a prophet. They were beginning to understand the truth about Jesus and his work in and for the world. But they still only had half the story. They might have understood that Jesus was truly God’s Messiah and that God was firmly in control of the events that had been going on during the last three days, not the chief priests or the Romans. Yet, where was Jesus? How were God’s promises to bring him into full glory be fulfilled now? They would have to spend a little more time with Jesus in order to unravel those mysteries. And perhaps that is one of Luke’s points. To really understand who Jesus is and what he is doing, we have to stay with him. Ask more questions, and keep learning.


Devotional Thought
One of the primary lessons that the disciples had to learn was that just because negative things seem to happen that doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s purposes have been thwarted. During what they thought were the worst of circumstances, God was working the most. Do you need to learn that same lesson today? Is there some trying circumstance that you are going through right now that seems like no good can come from it? It seems like the end of the road and makes you question God. If you can identify with that, take some time to return to the accounts of Jesus death and resurrection. The reality is that God can and does work the most through situations that seem the least likely. What is doing in your life right now?

Luke 24:-12 Commentary

Jesus Has Risen
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.


Dig Deeper
When you’re part of a church family you experience almost all stations of life on an ongoing basis because it seems that someone in your church family is always going through some aspect of life whether it be graduation, marriage, child birth, starting a new job, and so many other things. I love to be around a young married couple that is about to have their first child. They are so excited and so hopeful, and some of them start, at some point, to think that they finally have a good handle on what is coming and they are ready. We’ve spent time with several couples like that over the years and it’s almost a little amusing when they get to that stage. Granted, some couples never feel prepared and have a good dose of healthy fear right up until the day of the birth of the child as to what they have gotten themselves into, but for every one of those couples there is another couple who starts to get confident that they are ready. You can try to tell those couples that having a baby is a much bigger life event than they think and you can try to tell them what they are in for, but once someone is over-confident it’s hard to move them from that position. So you warn them that having a new child is great but it is going to be more demanding on them than they can imagine, and you try to warn them that they cannot possibly prepare for every possible situation no matter how organized they are. And you try to warn them that they are going to be more tired than they they could ever have dreamed was possible, but they just confidently smile and say they are ready.

Then the day comes and they have their wonderful child. Once they’ve had a few weeks to experience the real deal, they usually come back exhausted, worn down, and much wiser. They realize that people told them these things all along but they had such a perception built up of what things would be like that they simply couldn’t comprehend what they were being told. They couldn’t grasp how hard it really is until they went through it and experienced it for themselves. Only then could they look back and see that this was what people had been saying all along.

It seems that throughout his ministry, especially near the end, Jesus continually told and warned his disciples that bad times were ahead. He was going to Jerusalem to die. They had such powerful expectations for the Messiah, however, that they simply could not grasp or embrace the full reality of that. But that wasn’t the end, Jesus didn’t just tell them in many ways that his death was coming, he also hinted at, alluded to, and even talked openly about resurrection and about his own exaltation and vindication after his death. His disciples were listening but they just could not understand what he was saying because it didn’t fit into the categories that they had already created in their own expectations. They just had no idea. No, they would have to go through it and experience if before they could fully grasp what Jesus was talking about. Only then would they be able to look back and see that this was what Jesus had been saying all along.

Luke quickly jumps ahead from Jesus’ burial to Sunday, the first day of the week, quite early in the morning. But I can’t help but wonder what that Friday and Saturday would have been like for Jesus’ disciples. It appears that it would have been full of fear and uncertainty. What would they do now without Jesus? What of all of the promises that he had made? How were they to interpret all of the incredible things that they had seen with the fact that he was now clearly dead? Should they stay together as a family or split up and go back to their old lives? The one thing that seemed to be in short supply was hope. If Luke and other Gospel writers were making up this story, as some critics have claimed, we would expect to find descriptions of faithful and hopeful disciples waiting anxiously for the return of Christ. That’s not at all what we find, though. They were confused and defeated. Their leader was dead and they were now reduced to sending the women of this family that Jesus had formed to the tomb to properly prepare his body. They weren’t going there with spices just in case he was still dead but hoping secretly that he wasn’t. In their minds this was it, and what that meant for this supposed new family was anyone’s guess.

The tomb where the women watched Jesus be laid three days before was a typical Jewish tomb that was cut into stone and would have had a large wheel-shaped stone that was rolled in front of the open doorway in a groove that was cut into the ground. As the women approached, it would have been quite out of place to see that the stone was rolled back from the entrance. Mark includes the detail that they worried on the way how they were going to get that stone moved (Mk. 15:3) but Luke either assumed that readers would know that detail already or didn’t find it necessary to add to his account. Wondering what was going on, they peered into the tomb and did not find Jesus’ body as they were expecting. What could have happened? Who would have done this? In the midst of their wondering, two men, gleaming like lighting, appeared in their presence (Luke doesn’t say for sure here but will confirm in verse 23 that these two men were indeed angels). Everywhere we look in this chapter, Luke seems intent on provided the necessary two witnesses to provide a proper testimony (Deut. 19:15): the two angels; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, two appearances of the resurrected Jesus, and a double appeal to the witness of Scripture.

Before we move on, it is important to point out that the way that Luke (and the other Gospel writers) has recorded this account is powerful evidence to the fact that they were telling a true story. Women were simply not respected as witnesses in the first century, so if he were inventing a story or trying to exaggerate one, he just would not have done so by describing women as the ones to find the empty tomb first. It would have weakened their case to use such sketchy testimony. Luke was presenting truth, and the facts were the facts. But it is possible that though many first century readers would have been initially displeased with women being the first to find the tomb, the discerning reader who was genuinely looking for truth would probably have understood Luke’s dilemma and would have realized, just as we can now see, that it was actually powerful proof that he was telling a factual story using real eyewitnesses.

As the women listened to the angels, they were urged to remember. “Remembering” in this context doesn’t just mean mentally recalling something but also to now have understanding and insight into what one is recalling. They had failed to understand God’s purposes through the Christ and his death and, as is always the case, the antidote to a lack of understanding God’s purposes is to return to his word. In this case it was the very words of Christ that they heard with their own ears, but now they needed to shed their preconceived categories and look again.

As first-century Jews, they were so conditioned to think of resurrection as something that would happen to all of God’s people at the end of the present age and at the time when God’s new age unmistakably broke into the world, ridding it of evil and exalting God’s people to rule over it, that they just could not comprehend anything else. Yes, Jesus had spoken of being resurrected but they just could not comprehend that in the new and meaningful way that he wanted them to see. And perhaps from Jesus’ perspective they didn’t need to fully comprehend it ahead of time, but if he told them, they would eventually be able to look back and see that this was what he was up to all along and their faith would be built up. But while he was still with them, they simply could not wrap their minds around the thought of someone resurrecting as a single event in the middle of the present age and somehow ushering in the age to come in some aspects while the rest of the world went on pretty much as normal. They had categorized Jesus’ words of rising on the third day under their paradigm that Hosea 6:2 and it’s talk of being raised and restored on the third day as a symbol for the time when God would resurrect all of his people. Now they needed to remember Jesus’ words and realize that their whole framework was wrong. That’s not what God was doing. Hosea 6:2 wasn’t a symbol it was a prophecy. Jesus had been cut off as a representative for all people and had now resurrected quite literally on the third day.

They did finally, Luke tells us, remember his words. The light was beginning to turn on for the women, but that stands in contrast to the men. When the women ran back to tell them, Luke makes it clear that they weren’t waiting in hopeful expectation either. They were together. They had at least stayed together as the family that Jesus wanted them to be, but when the women came back and told them that the tomb was empty, and no doubt told them what they now understood, that this was what Jesus was planning to do all along, that death could not contain Jesus, the men took it as nonsense. These poor grief-stricken women didn’t know what they were talking about, at least not in the eyes of the men. Even though they had seen Jesus raise people from the dead, they just could not wrap their minds around the idea that those miracles were pointing to something even greater. Jesus didn’t just get sucked back out of the clutches of death, only to die again someday as those he had raised did. This was something entirely new. He had resolutely made war with death and had now burst out on the other side. But Luke, the master craftsman, hasn’t etched all of those details in yet. His readers know something that the disciples don’t yet know.

He first builds the mounting tension even more as Peter races to the tomb to see what these “crazy” women were babbling on about. Perhaps he thought he could clear up their confusion. But when he got there, no body was to be found, only strips of the linen cloth that Jesus was wrapped in days earlier. What could have happened? Peter doesn’t have a revealing encounter with any angels, though. He doesn’t yet “remember” and understand. He is left to walk away even more confused than when he came. Where did Jesus go? What happened to his body? Luke has one more incredible pair of witnesses to tell us about before he will answer those questions.


Devotional Thought
When God does things or things happen spiritually that you don’t understand, what is your response? Do you get frustrated and give up for a while? Do you just ignore the issue and hope it will go away? Or do you remember back to Jesus’ words, those find in the pages of the Bible and search for understanding? If the Bible is not the sole arbiter of truth in your life, then what else is?

Luke 23:44-56 Commentary

The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." [d] When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

The Burial of Jesus
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.



Dig Deeper
I’m mildly ashamed to admit this, but as much as I hate most of the shows that pass for programming on the history channel these days there is one show that I constantly wind up watching, no matter how much I don’t want to enjoy it. It’s sad to me that a channel, that purports to be about history, shows very few shows these days that cover actually important historical events and seems intent, instead, on having shows on aliens, Nostradamus, and the supposed end of the world. So as much as I don’t want to like the show “Monster Quest,” I keep finding myself watching it. “Monster Quest” is a show that details supposed sighting or infestations of everything from known animals like piranha and examine whether they are now in lakes in the United States to Yetis and other strange creatures. They will interview eyewitnesses and recreate the events that they claim to have seen.

Most of these “monsters” that people claim to have seen would be dismissed as nothing more than fantasy if it wasn’t for one thing. The cases that have eyewitnesses need to be at least considered. Time and again, while watching the show, you will hear an eyewitness say something like, “if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I just would not have believed it.” It’s hard to discount actual eyewitness evidence. In fact, as the show further investigates each case, most of the claims, especially of undocumented beasts like the Yeti, fall apart when the eyewitness evidence is really examined. The person is making up the story, or there is a perfectly logical explanation to what they saw, or they have misidentified a known animal, or they really didn’t see much at all but their imaginations have filled in the rest. Every now and then, though, there is a credible witness who has some expertise in the area, who got a good look at something, and is adamant that what they saw cannot be explained away easily. Those eyewitnesses are at least worth listening to.

From the very opening of this Gospel, Luke promised that he was going to give an ordered account that came directly from eyewitnesses that were keepers of the word. Everything that followed has fallen under that parameter but now Luke is arriving at the pinnacle of his account. This is what everything else has pointed to. It’s not the death of Christ as most modern Christians might suppose. That is certainly important for Luke but is by no means the most important thing. In fact, as he describes the crucifixion and death of Jesus, he is very careful to set up his account for what is to come. Everywhere we look, Luke is giving us eyewitnesses that would have been credible to a Roman audience and at least cause them to take pause and consider the evidence. He is setting everything up for the next chapter, the description of the incredible resurrection of Christ, and he is making sure that any reader would see that this is a credible event. There were no mistakes and this is not some fantasy cooked up by a small group of loyal Jewish followers of Jesus.

In the Old Testament, darkness was frequently associated with judgment (Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph. 1:15). This would have been a frightening specter and one that would be difficult to explain away. It also served as a powerful witness to the death of one who was unique to God. Everyone that was in Jerusalem at the time would remember and be able to attest to the unexplained darkness that happened the moment Jesus died. They might be able to come up with logical explanations for the darkness but the timing would certainly seem miraculous. The judgment of God was being poured out on Israel’s representative and the hour of darkness had truly come (Lk. 22:53). Jerusalem could avoid a similar fate if they would but put their faith in the life of the Messiah and allow him to be their representative.

At the same time that the sun had stopped shining, the massive curtain in the Temple, likely that one that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple, was torn in two. Luke doesn’t attempt to speculate on the specific meaning of this event but only reports it. It is likely that the tearing of the Temple curtain indicated one of several things or possibly all of them. The first was that a time of judgment had now come upon the Temple. Israel would be given time to repent as individuals but the nation had been judged and the Temple would be destroyed. The second thing was that ripping of the curtain indicated that access to God had been bridged. Because of Jesus’ death, those in Christ really could now enter into the presence of the Holy God and be reconciled. The third element is alluded to in Ephesians 2:14 where Paul says that in Christ the dividing wall of hostility (the law) had been torn down so that the Jews and Gentiles could really become the one family of many nations that God had promised for so long. When the curtain was torn, so was the wall that had separated the people under the law.

As Jesus took his last breath, he quoted from Psalm 31:5, again identifying himself as the righteous sufferer. The Psalm is a cry of the righteous sufferer committing his spirit into the hands of the mighty God. It is the cry of one who has befallen hard times but trusts that God will exalt him, protect him, and show him to be in the right. Despite appearances, the Psalmist declares that the righteous sufferer has not been given into the hands of his enemy but has instead been entrusted to God’s care all along.

The righteous sufferer would be justified but quoting from a Psalm would mean little to a Roman reader. So what? Anyone could claim that ancient writing as their own. But, says Luke, consider the Roman centurion who was watching all of this. This influential and respected man of position praised God. This crucified man, said the centurion, was in the right, he was one who was innocent (what the TNIV renders “righteous”). This wasn’t some flighty Jewish witness. This wasn’t someone who would be swayed by the emotion of the moment or fooled because he was really hoping that this would be the Messiah. In the eyes of a Roman audience, this was a credible witness that could not be dismissed but Luke goes even further. Those who had gathered around to watch the spectacle but certainly didn’t oppose it or try to stop the proceedings, now shared in the feelings of the centurion. They beat their breasts, knowing that an innocent man had been put to death. Whatever happened that day, they knew that God was not pleased. The Roman witness was impressive, but a vast majority of the people corroborated his response. This man should not have been killed, but he had been and he was now dead.

As Jesus was taken off of the cross, Luke brings us another impressive witness, Joseph of Arimathea. This was no peasant. Joseph was an important member of the Council, one that would have been respected by both Jews and most Romans. He was known to follow the law and to be an upright and trustworthy man. He had not agreed with the council’s decision to put Jesus to death and now he was taking a great gamble. He hadn’t stepped forward before as a public follower of Jesus but he would now. He took the risk of going to Pilate and asking for the body of Jesus, something that was dangerous because it was common practice after a political rebel had been put to death to also get rid of his supporters. We should not miss the fact that Joseph’s actions were squarely outside of the normal cultural practices. Taking care of burial arrangements was not only the sole responsibility of the family of the deceased, it was one of the most solemn duties of a family member. Joseph was publicly stepping up and embracing Jesus’ teaching of creating a new surrogate family around himself by fulfilling the role of family in that society. By taking Jesus down and burying him, Joseph was loudly declaring that he was a part of Jesus’ family.

The burial process in Israel at the time was a two-part process that could take up to a year. The body would be prepared with spices and perfumes and then would be placed on a shelf inside a tomb for up to a year while the flesh decayed. The bones would then be taken and placed in a bone box called an ossuary and put up on another shelf in the tomb. Generally tombs were for an entire family and would contain many family members. But Luke is careful to point out that Joseph was a wealthy man with a new tomb. The tomb would be in a prominent place and it was empty. It wouldn’t have been in an area that was jammed in with a bunch of other low-grade tombs and there were no other bodies in that tomb. Luke is clearly laying out the importance of the witnesses for what is about to take place. Joseph was an impressive witness who had come out publicly and taken bold action. He could be sought out and questioned about what he had seen. On top of that, Luke has taken away many of the “logical explanations.” There was no getting the wrong tomb or looking in the wrong place.

In addition to all of this, Luke produces further witnesses. The women were standing to the side all along, watching all of these events. Granted, women weren’t impressive witnesses in the first century but Luke wasn’t making up a story here. He was presenting facts as they happened. He has carefully produced several impressive witnesses but he has also produced a horde of other witnesses to supplement the testimony. The women were waiting to prepare the body for burial but they could not properly complete the job because of the coming Sabbath. It seems most likely that, despite much Christian tradition that he died on Friday, Jesus died on a Thursday afternoon (which would put him in the tomb for the required three days and nights). Joseph was acting in accordance with Deuteronomy 21:22-23 which declared that a man killed in the fashion that Jesus had been must be buried on that same day, but they couldn’t complete the proper preparation of the body. The women could not handle the body during the special Passover Sabbath on Friday and the regular Sabbath on Saturday. They watched carefully, says Luke, where the body was laid. There would be no going to the wrong tomb when they returned on Sunday morning to finish the burial preparations.

It would be easy to miss Luke’s final point of witness with the women and other disciples but it’s important that we don’t. Their plan was to return on Sunday and finish the burial. Jesus was dead and gone in their minds. What that meant for his claims of being the Messiah they had no doubt not worked out yet. But the fact is clear. They were not expecting to find anything more on Sunday morning than a dead body badly in need of spices and perfume. They were not huddled together waiting expectantly for Jesus to rise from the tomb, an addition which we would expect to find if Luke was simply making up this story. No, they were expecting nothing of the kind. Their Messiah was dead and they would return home for the darkest days and nights of their life.


Devotional Thought
I find it fascinating that even while the women thought that Jesus was dead and had failed in his attempt to be Messiah and bring about the salvation that he had promised, they remained faithful to him and were prepared to honor him and care for his body. Yet, when we feel like God has let us down or not fulfilled our expectations, those are the moments that we are usually quickest to jump ship. Are you faithful to God even when things don’t seem to be going well? Do you honor Jesus in your life even when it seems to you that things have failed miserably? The faithful women, when they returned to Jesus would discover something amazing and so will we when we remain faithful despite difficult circumstances.