The one who stands among us

26 April 2009

Luke 24:36b-48

We are still very much concentrating upon the season of Easter and my text comes from a closing section of Luke’s gospel. It follows the Emmaus Road account in Luke and needs to be read alongside John 20:19-23, which makes it clear that the disciples were behind ‘locked doors’ because of fear. Both Luke and John place this incident on the evening of Easter Day.

Although our Easter celebrations inevitably focus upon the first discovery of the Risen Christ, I find the passages that follow as compelling as any … and persuasive with regard to the radical change that the Risen Lord brought to his disciples.

The Emmaus Road discovery of Jesus Christ is only preserved by Luke and, as such, gives us a chapter which breaks into Easter morning, afternoon and evening. Our text comes from the evening in the Upper Room. There is no evidence of this, but it would seem logical to assume it was the same house in which the last supper had taken place three days before, and it may have been a central meeting point for the early disciples and larger group of followers.

The first Easter Day was a day of ‘roller coaster’ emotions – disappearance, appearance, fear and now he is with them again!
Luke 24:36 –
“Jesus himself stood among them.”

The tone of the language in the text implies by that this was a sudden, unexpected and memorable event. It was a moment which would be charged with meaning and needs to be seen in terms of what it actually did for the disciples.

I draw your attention to three aspects of this appearance and the change that came about amongst the band of disciples:-

It gave comfort to fearful disciples

Recent events had left the disciples crushed … and yet also confused by the news of Easter morning. Even though the Easter empty tomb caused great enthusiasm, they remained in shock at the events. If we return to the seminal resurrection account in Luke, we read that even apostles “did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.”

Peter responded with enthusiasm, but one suspects that among the disciples there was still a great deal of fear.

Perhaps they were discussing the reports of his ‘post-resurrection appearances’. Some may even have longed for him to appear to them. No doubt they were experiencing conflicting emotions. How else could we address the fact that they know him to be Risen, yet the doors are locked? Despite all of this, I believe that the experience is quite normal and altogether understandable.

Initially, you can feel there is a contradiction in John’s gospel – for there we read, “The disciples … were glad when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:20) However, there is no such difficulty if we refer to that commentary upon events as relating to the situation a few moments later. In Luke’s account, on the Emmaus Road and in Jerusalem the Lord himself takes the ‘initiative’. I find this very helpful … and in both the encounter with truth begins where they are. Jesus encourages the disciples to express exactly what is weighing them down and lying heavily upon their hearts and minds. Into their experience of disbelief and fear, Jesus comes amongst them and asks, “Why are you troubled…?” (v.37)

Fearful disciples because of what had happened

The theme of fear runs through the Easter story – the disciples had undergone a quite remarkable and painful experience, causing so many to flee for protection. Walter L Liefeld picks out the theme of fear as central in Luke. He writes, “Luke’s Gospel opened with a terrified Zechariah in the unexpected presence of an angel (1:12). Now, near its end, Luke describes the fright of the disciples at the unexpected appearance of the risen Christ (v.37).”

You might imagine that they would have been full of the news about the appearance on the Emmaus Road, but they are real people and the pain and suffering of recent days has cut deep into their hearts. It is not unlike Christians who have lost loved ones … of course they believe that they are with Jesus Christ, but they still feel the loss.

Fear is a real part of life. Ivor Smith-Cameron was born in India and served for many years amongst students and the academic community. He wrote, “Whenever I hear about Christ as Saviour it appears that he saves from sin – and I don’t wish to deny that – but in my experience he does more than that. He releases us from fear and I think fear is the great killer.”

Tommy was very frightened of big dogs. One day, when he started to back away from a large German Shepherd dog, his family scolded him for his timidity. “You’d be afraid too,” he replied, “if you were as low down as I am.”

The fear of the disciples is understandable, in the light of all that had happened:

In the events that led up to the cross.
In the cross itself.
In the confusion that now emerged.

Fearful disciples because of what might happen

If the religious leaders were prepared to go to such lengths to eradicate the leader of this new way and the Romans were prepared to collude with them to quell a perceived insurrection, then they would have every reason to fear what might happen to them.

The writer Luke conveys a message of Easter which begins in the real experience of people and shows how God moved towards us in Christ and took the initiative. Vernon McGee makes one simple comment in his study of this passage: “I am sure our reaction would have been the same if we had been there.”

Fear is often based on coming to a possible conclusion to events.
Fear is a real experience which debilitates our lives.
Fear moves on to totally freeze our response.

As one writer tells, “You can see the face of panic in a car with the ‘P’ sign on it – not on the driver, but on the face of the person in the passenger seat.”

Fearful disciples because they did not understand

The appearance of Jesus amongst those early disciples came at a time when their conflicting emotions were so prominent. His coming found them believing and unbelieving, stunned and yet excited, and all mixed in with fear at the same time (24:34, 36 and 41). Confusion appears to be the dominant experience, probably best expressed as disorientated … they did not know what was happening.

In this year of political change in the United States, great speeches of past Presidents have been recalled; among them are the immortal words of Franklin D Roosevelt who contended, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Help to these disciples will come through the direct question of Jesus, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (v.38) and also through the evidence of his risen power, “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (v.42)

Eduard Schweizer, from whose commentaries I often quote, suggests that “This is the source of the phrase ‘resurrection of the flesh’ (or: body) in the creed. It is comprehensible as a defence against reducing the resurrection to the survival of some kind of spirit but is highly misleading today. If Luke assumes that Jesus’ hands and feet still bear the prints of the nails (cf. John 20:25 and the discussion of Matt. 27:35), he is maintaining (with Rev. 5:6) that the resurrection does not simply cancel out the crucifixion; it is now especially important that Jesus travelled this way.”

It brought courage to confused disciples

Jesus flung wide the door for questioning faith. I always struggle with two extremes which dominate some people’s religion:

The kind of religion which refuses questioning – it can almost imply a suspension of the mind and academic enquiry.
The kind of religion which rejects the reasonable contention of faith – it can almost imply that the Christian faith has no serious thought-through answers to the vital questions.

The disciples were confused and yet Jesus came and stood among them. The closing sections of Luke’s gospel do not arm us with new insights or new ideas.

Robert McAfee Brown contended that they embody a new and continuing mode of relationship. Brown writes, “At Emmaus the disciples discover that it is not ‘enunciated truth’ that matters so much as ‘enacted truth’.

The disciples’ sense of courage would take shape as they begin to rise to the challenge of the future. The conviction of his presence is made clear as Jesus…

shows them their fears are groundless

The resurrection accounts allow them to look at their fears and overcome them through confident hope. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “A wise person in a storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.”

Such deliverance comes as we look at the source of our fear and exercise faith:

Jesus rode into the city.
Jesus wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus carried his love all the way to the cross.
Jesus died and rose again!

As the disciples came to terms with their situation – Michael Wilcock says, “Emotionally, they were thoroughly confused.” – they realise their fears are groundless. Once again, as on the Emmaus Road, it is the scriptures which come into play in the situation: “He opened their minds so they could understand …” (v.45)

Today fear dominates so many … economic realities have knocked on too many doors and as people listen to bankers discussing the shift of billions in the economy, the issue for many is ‘Can I afford to buy fresh milk and some meat this week?’ There are practical ways in which we stand with those who are hurting and release others from fear.

• helps them to live with the reality of joy and fear at the same time
The joy of the disciples is spoken of here (v.41) and in John 20:20. This joy seems to be along the lines of ‘It’s too good to be true!’ They believe and yet they find it hard to believe at one and the same time.

So often in life we have to live with conflicting emotions. In this passage the great themes of the Christian faith are being carried out:-

The reality of the Risen Lord (v.36)
The necessity of the cross, even in a resurrection faith (v.v. 39 and 40)
The urgency of the faith to move from the Upper Room (v.49)
The secret of power which the Spirit of God will bring to them (v.v. 49-53)

After the Upper Room would come the worldwide mission of the church to offer hope to all. This Easter we have had to declare our Christian faith in a pretty tough context for us and, in interviews, I have been asked questions along those lines, but faith is the only meaningful antidote to fear.

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no-one was there!

demonstrates by his materiality that this is not an emotional experience alone!

In both the Emmaus walk account and the appearances when Jesus shares a meal with the disciples … there is a sense in which he is different. How else would they have failed to recognise him on the road (24:16) – or it be necessary to show his hands and feet (24:40)? Food is a recurring motif in all of Luke’s writings.

Leonard Sweet writes, “Jesus seems either to be going to or coming from a meal on every occasion of importance. The mode and mood of food creates some of the gospel’s most distinguishing claims to what constitutes the ‘good news’. Jesus eats with outcasts and ‘good-for-nothing’ riff-raff … Jesus is labelled a glutton and a drunkard for spending so much time at table with those marginal members of society.

Jesus demonstrates hospitality to all who approach his table. Jesus plays the role of both host and guest with grace. Both the evidence of ‘his hands and feet’ and ‘the broiled fish’ speak a powerful message of the Risen Lord!

Nothing robs the mind of an ability to act as does fear but, in Jesus’ appearances to them, it is not an hallucination or an imagined or self-generated hope … it is in the real ‘flesh and bones’ reality of life."

It enabled confidence amongst 'hope-less disciples'

In his conversation with the disciples, Jesus refers to his ministry up to the time of the crucifixion as something in the past. Charles L Childers wrote,

"His death and resurrection have changed the mortal to the immortal and put a difference between them which only their own deaths and resurrections can enable them to transcend.”

The feeling of ‘hope-lessness’ is common in the world today. Our current global crisis challenges not only the central banks and the world’s politicians, but also the ordinary experiences of people who feel unemployment and retracting finances bring a sense of disillusionment into their lives … it damages self-worth and the sense of confidence that is necessary for healthy living.

There is a book called Adrift, which tells the story of a man who built a vessel that was to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He hit bad weather and his boat sunk. He existed on a life raft for eighty days. The thing that kept him alive was hope. His lowest days were the days when he could see no hope and he could not see any possibility of rescue or making it to land again. But his hope kept him alive!"

Jesus restarts with the pulse of the disciples

Someone has said, “We can live forty days without food, eight days without water, four minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope.”

Oscar Wilde struck a similar note in a ballad he wrote:

“We did not dare to breathe a prayer,
Or give our anguish scope.
Something was dead within each of us,
And what was dead was Hope.”

The hope of the disciples did not die entirely … in fact the way they gathered together and took comfort in each other speaks volumes – but they could not see a way forward. When Jesus came and stood among them –

They regained confidence in themselves.
They found a new sense of purpose in Christ.
They rediscovered the mission to which they were called.

Jesus remakes the basis of their belonging and believing

One of the features of Luke is that when he wants to emphasise a theme, he often makes it clear by double or even triple stories, replaying the same message. The ‘lost and found’ chapter is a good example.

Here in the final chapter of Luke, we find the same kind of approach:
– The empty tomb.
– The Emmaus Road.
– The Lord standing amongst his disciples.

The priority emphasis of this passage is not about Jesus walking through locked doors or his eating fish … in essence it is that Jesus is back amongst his disciples again. Jesus stands with us in the midst of uncertainty, loneliness, estrangement – and all the difficult experiences of life – and he brings hope and peace.

• Jesus responds to our need to know him to be the basis of our hope

Faith is not in spite of evidence … for our Easter account brings a reasonable basis for hope. Faith, however, takes us much further and will allow us, even when the boat is well and truly rocking, to have confidence that we can believe, even when things appear to the contrary.

The disciples were a broken, demoralised and defeated band after the crucifixion – and one of the most powerful evidences of the resurrection is the way they are transformed to such a point that they are described as “turning the world upside down”. (Acts 17:6)

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:20) tells us of the companionship of Jesus Christ with his people. The gospel did not spread by the mere power of eloquence and argument. It spread through the reality of men and women who had met him as he “stood in their midst”.

The disciples were surprised by joy; they had not expected it. In fact, it was the furthest thing from their minds. The resurrection of Jesus reminds us that we must always be ready to be surprised by joy. As one writer put it, “God turns our dirge into a dance.”

Christian Life