To read the texts click on the texts:Acts3:11-26; Lk 24:35-48
These verses contain the
appearance of the risen Jesus to the eleven and their companions. Luke’s account has parallels with the
accounts found in Matthew, Mark, and John.
Here, too, like in the Emmaus story, the disciples are unable to
recognize Jesus. When Jesus appears to them and greets them with a wish of
peace, they think they are seeing a ghost and so, are frightened and terrified.
Jesus’ response to these emotions is to ask why they are frightened and why
doubts must arise. In order to prove to
them that it is indeed he, Jesus shows them his hands and feet and invites them
to touch him. This is to prove that he is not a spirit which has no flesh and
bones. Despite this invitation, they continue to doubt. Jesus then asks them
for something to eat. He eats what they
give him, in front of them. This gesture results in portraying the reality of
the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Yet, Luke does not explicitly state that the
disciples believed, even after seeing Jesus eat.
Jesus does something more.
He explains to them, like he did to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the
scriptures and the things concerning him that the scriptures had foretold.
Scripture could only be fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus. After
this, he commissions them to be witnesses of this fact and through it, the gift
of forgiveness of sins to all nations, which will begin in Jerusalem .
Thus, the text which began
with the doubt and confusion of the disciples ends with them being made
witnesses of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
They are witnesses that his death and resurrection have resulted in
salvation and forgiveness of sins for all humankind.
The points that Luke seems
to want to make here are first, that Jesus has indeed been raised, and bodily,
and second, that the disciples who will proclaim this fact were eye witnesses
to this event. It was not simply an
event that took place beyond history (though the resurrection, as such, is a
meta-historical event) but happened in space and in time, was real, and
witnessed by the disciples who saw the risen Lord.
The hands and feet
that Jesus showed his disciples are visible today in each of us who claim to be
his disciples. These are to be shown to the world as “proof” not only of the
fact that Jesus is alive, but that in his name, forgiveness is even now being
preached. It is significant that the content of the preaching, even after the
resurrection of Jesus, is to be forgiveness, because that is why Jesus came
into the world; to save people from their sins. This forgiveness can be
preached and made real only if we bear witness to it through our lives.
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