Luke 24:36 - 53
36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,[b] 43 and he took it and ate before them.
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for[c] the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. How did Jesus just appear among them?
2. Why did they persist in their unbelief?
3. How did He open their minds? They were not filled with the Holy Spirit yet.
4. Was Jesus ascension on the same day He first appeared to them?
5. Why did they hang out in the temple?
https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/luke-24/ says:
ReplyDeletePeace to you: These were words with new meaning, now that Jesus had risen from the dead. Now, true peace could come between God and man and among men.
It is remarkable to consider that the resurrection body of Jesus retains the wounds He received in His sufferings and crucifixion. There are many possible reasons for this.
· To exhibit the wounds to the disciples, that they would know that it was the very same Jesus.
· To be the object of eternal amazement to the angels.
· To be His ornaments, trophies of His great work for us.
· To memorialize the weapons with which He defeated death.
· To serve as advocates in His perpetual intercession for us.
· To preserve the evidence of humanity’s crime against Him.
They still did not believe for joy, and marveled: Curiously, for that moment joy kept them from faith. This may have been true in the sense that we may believe something to be too good to be true. Yet it is also true that God wants from us a reasoned, thought-out faith, not a giddy easy-believism. Jesus wanted them to think and believe.
It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day: Jesus wanted them to understand that the cross was not some unfortunate obstacle that had to be hurdled. It was a necessary part of God’s redemptive plan for man, and that it would be in the name of a crucified and risen Savior that repentance and remission of sins will be brought to the world.
Should be preached in His name: To preach the gospel in Jesus’ name means to:
· Preach it under His orders.
· Preach it on His authority.
· Preach it knowing repentance and remission of sin come by the virtue of His name.
· Refusing to preach it in our own name.
I send the Promise of My Father upon you: They could not do the work Jesus had called them to do unless they were endued with power from on high, and that power would come as the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/24-36.htm says:
ReplyDeleteJesus himself stood in the midst of them.—The account agrees with that in John 20:19, who adds the fact that the doors of the room had been closed for fear of the Jews. The mode of appearance in both Gospels suggests the idea, as in Luke 24:31, of new conditions of existence, exempted from the physical limitations of the natural body, and shadowing forth the “spiritual body” of 1Corinthians 15:44.
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Peace be unto you - This was a form of salutation among the Hebrews denoting a wish of peace and prosperity. See Genesis 43:23. It was especially appropriate for Jesus, as he had said before his death that he left "his peace" with them as their inheritance John 14:27, and as they were now alarmed and fearful at their state, and trembling for fear of the Jews, John 20:19.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/24-49.htm says:
ReplyDeleteAnd behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you:
The promise was, that they should be aided by the power of the Holy Spirit. He also doubtless referred to the promise of God, made in the days of Joel, respecting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. See Joel 2:28-29, compared with Acts 2:16-21.
Endued with power from on high - The power which would be given them by the descent of the Holy Spirit - the power of speaking with tongues, of working miracles, and of preaching the gospel with the attending blessing and aid of the Holy Spirit. This was accomplished in the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. See Acts 2.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-24-commentary#24:36 says:
ReplyDeleteIt is worth noting that we have no details from the Gospel writers regarding whether Jesus post-resurrection form differed from His appearance in His earthly life (except we can be sure of the scars on His hands and feet).
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Jesus makes the disciples learn what a resurrection body is like: it is the body of the same person, the same body of that person, and yet both the person and the body are in a new and wonderful state.
for it takes a more than two weeks to develop a scar!
Songwriters sometimes mention His “scars,” but the record says nothing about “scars.” The “prints” of Calvary were on His glorified body (John 20:24–29), and they are still there (Rev. 5:6, 9, 12+).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-24-commentary#24:36 continued:
ReplyDeleteA mighty practical lesson is involved in our Lord’s dealing with the disciples, which we shall do well to remember. That lesson is the duty of dealing gently with weak disciples, and teaching them as they are able to bear. Like our Lord, we must be patient and longsuffering. Like our Lord, we must condescend to the feebleness of some men’s faith, and treat them as tenderly as little children, in order to bring them into the right way. We must not cast off men because they do not see everything at once. We must not despise the humblest and most childish means, if we can only persuade men to believe. Such dealing may require much patience. But he who cannot condescend to deal thus with the young, the ignorant, and the uneducated, has not the mind of Christ.
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"These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
the disciples' "evangelism was to be biblically based, so they needed clear understanding of the Scriptures related to Christ. The Old Testament promised the Messiah would come through the line of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; cf. Gal. 3:16), the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10; cf. Rev. 5:5), and the line of David (2 Sam. 7). Isaiah 7:14 predicted that He would be born of a virgin; Micah 5:2 that He would be born in Bethlehem. He would be betrayed by a close, trusted friend (Ps. 41:9); He would be beaten, spit on, and have His beard pulled out (Isa. 50:6; Mic. 5:1); the soldiers would gamble for His clothing (Ps. 22:18); He would be crucified (Ps. 22) and pierced (Zech. 12:10); His death would be vicarious (Isa. 53), and He would rise from the dead (Isa. 53:10; Ps. 16:8-11). The Christ of gospel history did not invent Himself, nor is He the invention of some people in the first century. He is the unmistakable fulfillment of divine prophecy."
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-24-commentary#24:36 continued:
ReplyDeleteJ C Ryle on He opened their minds - We must not misapprehend these words. We are not to suppose that the disciples knew nothing about the Old Testament up to this time, and that the Bible is a book which no ordinary person can expect to comprehend. We are simply to understand that Jesus showed His disciples the full meaning of many passages which had hitherto been hid from their eyes. Above all, He showed the true interpretation of many prophetical passages concerning the Messiah. We all need a like enlightenment of our understandings. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Cor. 2:14+) Pride, and prejudice, and love of the world blind our intellects, and throw a veil over the eyes of our minds in the reading of the Scriptures. We see the words, but do not thoroughly understand them until we are taught from above. He that desires to read his Bible with profit, must first ask the Lord Jesus to open the eyes of his understanding by the Holy Ghost. Human commentaries are useful in their way. The help of good and learned men is not to be despised. But there is no commentary to be compared with the teaching of Christ. A humble and prayerful spirit will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud, self-conceited student will utterly fail to discern.
Understand (put together, mentally comprehend) Suniemi is the manifestation of the ability to understand concepts and see relationships between them and thus describes the exercise of the faculty of comprehension, intelligence, acuteness, shrewdness.
Hebert Lockyer - To appropriate to the full all the promises associated with Scripture, certain definite, positive attitudes toward it must be constantly observed. For instance—
• Our steps must be ordered by it. Psalm 119:133
• We must not be mere hearers of it. James 1:22
• It must be fully believed. John 2:22
• Obedience to its demands must be given. Psalm 119:158; Luke 8:21; 11:28
• The Spirit alone can unfold its truths. John 18:13; I Corinthians 2:10-11; Luke 24:45
• It must be grasped as a whole. I Peter 1:20 (Scofield margin)
• It must be accepted as the divine Word. I Thessalonians 2:13; Psalm 119:42
• We must daily search it. John 5:39; 7:52 with Acts 17:11
• Its awesomeness must be recognized. Psalm 119:161
• Remembrance of it is enjoined. Isaiah 66:2; Psalm 119:16
• It must not be handled deceitfully. II Corinthians 4:2; 2:17
• Its truths must not be twisted. II Peter 3:16; Jeremiah 36:29-32: I Peter 2:8 (All the Promises of the Bible)
Theologians call this 'illumination.' We use the expressions, 'It just dawned on me' or 'The light just came on' to describe darkened thoughts which later take on new understanding. God's Spirit does that for us with Scripture.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-24-commentary#24:36 continued:
ReplyDelete47 and that repentance for[c] the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed
some in evangelical circles who teach that all repentance involves is a change of mind. The problem with this definition is that has nothing to do with one’s attitude toward sin and does not necessarily result in any change in lifestyle. Keeping this definition in mind now read the first NT use of metanoia by John the Baptist who is addressing the religious leaders who sought to flee from the wrath to come…
Matthew 3:8 - Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
fruit is what people produce that other people see that indicates their true spiritual condition. Fruit does not save but shows that one is saved!
Repentance is the foundational biblical, spiritual act that moves the heart in the direction of salvation. It is turning from sin’s presence, power, dominance, and consequences to righteousness. Repentance involves a desire to leave sin behind and pursue righteousness. It is not simply feeling bad about one’s circumstances, or condition, or the consequences that resulted from one’s sins, but mourning over the reality of sin. Repentance is prompted by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), who came to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and is granted by God (2 Tim. 2:25; cf. Acts 11:18).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-24-commentary#24:36 continued:
ReplyDeleteLuke 24:51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
Charles Erdman - Jesus then withdrew from the sphere of the seen and physical to the sphere of the unseen and spiritual. We are not to think of him as far away. He is an unseen, divine Presence, superior to the limitations of time and space, and capable of being manifest in any period or place. The ascension should make us feel that Jesus is near rather than far away. Jesus then assumed universal power; not at the time of his resurrection, but at the time of his ascension, he was seated “ on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” This indicates divine omnipotence. It is the continual representation of the New Testament that Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. The ascension should therefore remind us of the limitless power of Christ. It was therefore at the time of the ascension that Jesus entered “ "into his glory.”
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Why didn’t Jesus continue His visible appearances on earth? He had told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would not begin His work until after He left (John 16:7). The time had come for His followers to trust His word instead of relying on their physical senses (20:25,29). Their Master’s slow, visible, and final ascent was a dramatic way of saying to them that a new era was about to begin.
From heaven Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to replace His bodily presence. Christ would form the church and rule as its Head (Ephesians 1:22-23). By His Spirit, He would live within His followers and fill them with peace and power. In heaven He would intercede for them before the Father’s throne (Hebrews 7:25). He would no longer be visibly present, but He would still be with them in a very real way (Matthew 28:19-20).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-24-commentary#24:36 continued:
ReplyDeleteLuke 24:52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
this is the first reference in Luke to the disciples worshiping Jesus. Worship should always precede work. Any work we do for the Lord should be the overflow of our hearts being full of adoration and love for Him. We hear a lot about burnout in ministry. One major cause of burnout is when our work gets ahead of our worship. When we feel that we’re just cranking out whatever we do to serve the Lord, we need to stop and get our hearts right before Him. The hands that Jesus lifted up in blessing were pierced hands. As the disciples gazed upward at Jesus, lifting up His hands, they would have been reminded that He gave Himself for them on the cross. That is the motivation for all that we do for the Lord (Ga 2:20).
Our pattern should always be God's work done in God's power in God's timing, and for God's glory.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. How did Jesus just appear among them?
Jesus was in His resurrected body, which enabled Him to have great powers. I'm not sure if His limits were further removed after His ascension, but I think He probably picked up all His omnipotence after His resurrection - which would cause Him to easily pop in and out of space-time.
2. Why did they persist in their unbelief?
Humanity has a common trait among them to doubt anything that seems too good to be true. I think the disciples needed a little time to overcome that feeling.
3. How did He open their minds? They were not filled with the Holy Spirit yet.
It's possible that "opened their minds" just means verbally teaching them. It's also possible that Jesus did something miraculous to them before the Holy Spirit came down upon them in Acts 2. Perhaps, He granted a portion of the Holy Spirit to them?
4. Was Jesus ascension on the same day He first appeared to them?
No, in Acts it says He spent 40 days with them. This is a natural occurrence of contraction in the story - something we need to be aware of in general when we read the Bible.
5. Why did they hang out in the temple?
The question should be why did Jesus command them to. The temple was set up to be the place where God came down and met humanity. This was the Event that changed the Jerusalem temple from being the locus for meeting God to now His people being that locus. We are the new temple. Acts 2 is a huge event in history, and it taking place at the temple only makes sense.