Luke 24:1−8, 36−40, 44−53

Explore the Bible 
Dean, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

HE LIVES ETERNALLY: CARRY ON

Luke 24:1−8, 36−40, 44−53
Clearly Jesus’ resurrection was a bodily resurrection, i.e. His body was flesh and bone. Indeed bodily resurrection is the only kind of resurrection. It is sheer nonsense to talk, as some do, as if the resurrection was a God-given vision meant to assure His disciples that Jesus had survived death in spirit form and was alive on the other side. That describes immortality of the soul but hardly resurrection of the body. Put it another way. The same body that was put into the tomb came out of the tomb with new and divine life never to die again and appeared to many witnesses. Eating and drinking with Him, even touching Him, were objective physical events just as other acts of eating, drinking and touching. Having “a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:44) in the resurrection does not mean a body made of spirit instead of flesh. The language means having a real body perfectly indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

Women Visit the Tomb (1−8)
At first light on the first day of the week women followers of Jesus returned to the tomb. Jesus’ hasty “burial” Friday evening was incomplete. Now these came to finish the job with the “aromatic spices and perfumes” (23:56).

Because the Jews did not embalm they used spices like spikenard and myrrh to mask the stench of rotting flesh.

When they came to the tomb they found the stone moved so they could enter easily. But when they went in, what they found was not what they expected to find. The Lord’s body was not there.

While they puzzled over this, two men in dazzling apparel appeared. These were angels because their message to the women is essentially the same as that of the angel in Matthew’s Gospel (28:5−7). “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” The explanation for the empty tomb is simple. Jesus is alive. His resurrection should occasion no surprise because “while He was still in Galilee,” i.e. from the beginning of His ministry, He taught His followers that sinful men would crucify Him but He would rise on the third day. Had they remembered His words they would not have come with spices to anoint a dead body.

Jesus Appears in Jerusalem (36−40)
This appearance of the risen Lord is the same as the one in John 20:19−25. Before this time Jesus had appeared only to individuals or small groups. Now he suddenly stood among the “eleven and those with them” (24:33). They were not only startled but terrified, thinking they saw a ghost. To calm their fears Jesus invited them to behold His hands and feet and to touch His body to see that it was a real body of flesh and bones. As further proof, He asked for food and ate it.  

A Commission in Jerusalem (44−49)
On this occasion the Master taught from “the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms” all the things written there about Him. The Law and the Prophets were the first two divisions of the Hebrew Bible. Psalms was the first and largest book in the third division, usually called the Writings. Some people cannot find anything about Jesus in the Old Testament but He had no difficulty doing so. All those prophecies were fulfilled in Him. With His help the disciples were able to understand that the Messiah would be a King and rule a Kingdom but first must suffer and then enter into His glory. It was all part of God’s eternal purpose to offer forgiveness of sins to all peoples, beginning in Jerusalem.

Jesus ended this appearance with a charge to be His witnesses, i.e. to tell the story, in the power of the Spirit, which shortly would “clothe” them.

Jesus’ Ascension (50−53)
Some days later (Acts 1:3−4) Jesus led His disciples out to Bethany. He lifted His hands and blessed them, perhaps on the order of the high priest who did this when He had finished His work on a festival day. Jesus had finished His work and now blessed His disciples. While He was blessing them He was taken up into heaven.