Picking up where the previous chapter leaves us, the women waited until just before dawn Sunday morning to bring their funeral perfumes. Since they knew exactly where the tomb was, including precisely how the body was laid in it, there was no chance they were mistaken that particular tomb was open again. Worse, the body was gone. They had no idea what was going on, nor what to do, nor how to find the new resting place. It was time to panic.
All the more so were they flustered by the appearance of two angels. To their eyes, it looked like very important men, but their garments projected light with a sparkle. The women rightly fell on their faces, since clothing which competed with the rising sun for brilliance could only mark the presence of spiritual beings.
From the very first word, the whole post-Crucifixion message echoed with a note of reproof. Everyone had been exposed repeatedly to the teaching of Jesus' death and resurrection. That their minds dismissed it before the Cross is almost understandable, because their whole frame of reference excluded the proper understanding of the Scriptures. Their minds had been held in prison to a badly corrupted message. Jesus during His ministry had offered no excuse for the disciples not seeing this. All the more so since it had happened as He promised.
He had promised He would, indeed, die. He had also promised He would not stay dead, but would resurrect. Further, He noted it would be the third day after His death. Sunday was that third day. If they expected to find Jesus, they needed to search among the living, for He was alive. The angels reminded them they should have known all this, even quoting Jesus very pointed words on the subject. Now it all made sense.
The women returned in a hurry to where everyone was staying. Lacking the divine reminder these women experienced, their audience was puzzled; they simply could not get their heads around this news. The women were insistent enough Peter had to investigate. Luke offers more visual detail, indicating Peter himself was the source of this part of the narrative. The mummy-wrapping case was still in the tomb, but there was no body inside it. Perhaps the gummed strips had caved in where the torso had been, as nothing supported them. The body had not been moved in the conventional sense, and Peter didn't know what to make of it.
The next part of the story must have come from Cleopas, who was involved. He and one other man were walking that afternoon from Jerusalem about a two-hour hike to Emmaus. It was late that same Sunday afternoon, and the day's events and stories had confused just about everyone. On their walk, the two men discussed these things. The resurrected Jesus joined them on the way, but they didn't recognize Him, apparently because Jesus felt it was in their best interest. Playing ignorant, He asked them what was the reason for their intense and somber discussion.
The were utterly surprised He seemed unaware of the news which had stirred the entire city. They spoke of Jesus of Nazareth as a mighty prophet of God, His arrest and trial, and crucifixion. They had considered Jesus the one hope of their nation. Now these three days since His execution, they had heard some women had seen angels and His body disappeared from His grave.
Again, the same message of how they had all missed the point. Instead of recalling His previous words, He started from scratch, explaining how the Messiah had been promised from Creation. His death and resurrection were required to fulfill all the prophecies. For the whole two hours He laid out the clear thread of promise throughout the Scriptures.
It was not merely common courtesy they invited this stranger to stay the night at their house, but they must have been moved and hungry for more of this teaching. Clearly this man was a rabbi, so they honored him, letting him play host at the meal. As soon as this stranger had offered the ritual blessing and thanks, broken the bread and passed it to them, their eyes were opened. It was Jesus Himself! Just as quickly as they recognized Him, He vanished into thin air. Tossing aside all caution, they ran out into the night, determined to report this to the disciples in Jerusalem.
Apparently they weren't the only ones with a story of seeing Jesus. After these two related their experience, the whole place was tense. The transition from hoping for a renewed Davidic kingdom, to realizing that could not happen because their Master was executed, to the disappearance of the body, and all these confused tales of seeing Jesus alive again -- not everyone had fully awakened the dramatic shift required by this concept of a spiritual Kingdom of Heaven. More, this new concept was supposed to be the original, the message of the Law and Prophets, but twisted by generations of soulless scholarship in pursuit of man's wisdom.
In that moment, Jesus Himself materialized in the big middle of their debate. There are no words to express the sense of shock and confusion. He again reproved them for operating in the flesh. Inviting them to examine Him visually and with their hands, He first made it clear this was no apparition. To drive that lesson home, He ate some fish and honey, something ghosts can't do. Their minds were spinning.
Then He called for them to remember what He had told them before the Cross. His teaching had been a bizarre departure from three centuries of Hellenistic, materialistic nonsense. There was simply no place in their minds to hang the truth, no way to process such a radical reorientation. As they struggled to find a new mental footing, He explained again how this was the original, ancient understanding of the Law and Prophets. Instead of bits and pieces scattered over weeks and days, He laid out for them in a single lesson the more accurate understanding. Since the false Messianic hopes were dead and gone, there was at least now some room to absorb this new-yet-ancient teaching.
Wrapping up, He summarized how it was necessary He suffer and die, and rise again on the third day. The ancient mission of Israel was now their mission. However, now it was no longer prophecy of a coming Messiah, but a revelation of the Messiah now present. Thus, all nations could be called to repentance, because sins could be forgiven. Having seen it all for themselves, they would have a message which could not be shaken, so they were to preach to the whole world. The only unfinished business was the single unfulfilled promise of the Father, to bring them the power to carry out this message. Not by their own power, but by divine presence in their individual lives, the same Spirit which had been in Jesus all this time. They were to wait in Jerusalem until that came about.
Luke skips over some two months of narrative. The next scene is that last day when Jesus would walk on the earth before The End. Luke sets the stage for the second part of his Gospel. The disciples follow their risen Lord out of the city, to the Mount of Olives. Just over the peak, out of view of the Temple, Jesus stood before them near Bethany. Lifting His hands, He blessed them, then levitated up into the clouds. Returning to the city, they obeyed instructions to wait in Jerusalem. The time was passed joyfully, worshipping daily in the Temple. It must have been completely puzzling to the Sanhedrin and Roman officials. There was no threat of rebellion, but the spirit of the group had never been more lively.
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By Ed Hurst
22 November 2008
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