Luke 24:36-43 is the story about the appearance to the disciples. The source is material unique to Luke.[1] It parallels closely the Emmaus incident and has parallels with John 20:19-21 as well. It has an obvious apologetic motif, giving assurance to Theophilus, stressing the identity and the physical reality of the risen Christ. The text has some conflict with Paul that "flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
In this story, the risen Lord appears to anxious disciples in bodily form. The emphasis on the fleshly, physical form presupposes a discussion in the community of the nature of the corporeality of the risen Christ such as found in John 20 and I John, as well as I Corinthians 15.
Having first appeared to the women at the tomb and then to two Emmaus road travelers, Jesus now at last appears to all his gathered disciples. In this final appearance, Luke once again makes explicit the central theme that has run throughout Luke's gospel. This risen Christ, the Messiah, is the fulfillment of God's plan and promise.
36bJesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."[2] Worship does not happen until the risen Lord is with the community gathered, regardless of how large or small. Although the women at the tomb had already testified to encountering the risen Christ, the disciples had dismissed their words as "an idle tale" (v.11). The two travelers along the Emmaus road had also returned to the disciples and proclaimed their experience walking and breaking bread with Jesus. 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. They react to Jesus not as a resurrected Messiah but as simply a pneuma, a disembodied spirit, a ghost. Little wonder they are scared to their depths. The resurrected Jesus recognizes and reacts to the extent of the fear his presence elicits from the disciples. The possibility that the vision of the risen Lord suggests a ghost shows that one could interpret the appearance in differing ways.[3]However, the eschatological expectation of a resurrection from the dead provided linguistic expression and a conceptual framework for the Christian Easter message. This conceptual framework makes it possible for the disciples to identify the appearances of the crucified Lord to them. Thus, they could tell that a ghost did not appear to them. It was the Lord raised to new eschatological life.[4] 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? The risen Lord confronts them with what he sees happening among them. Here, as he had previously done with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus engages this small group of disciples with questions rather than pontificating to open their hearts to the message of the Scriptures (cf. Luke 24:17, 19, 26). However, putting forward queries is clearly insufficient during this epiphany. If they were to believe what they were seeing, he had to do more than simply stand before them and ask questions because the intensity of their disbelief was considerable. He had to motivate and exhort them to act, that is, to implore them to employ their bodies to inspect his body so that they might come to believe that he was really with them. 39 Look at my [μου] hands and my [μου] feet;[5]see that it is I myself. This Jesus is clearly no ghostly spirit. He has "flesh and bones" that one can grasp ad hold. Touch [ψηλαφήσατέ] me and see [ἴδετε]; for a ghost [πνεῦμα, or spirit] does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." The point Luke makes is that Jesus urges his disciples to dispel their fears and doubts by inviting them to participate in a hands-on experience of truth. Given such realism, one can hardly avoid seeing here an opposition to Docetism. Luke is combating challenges to the bodily reality of the resurrection of Jesus, like what Ignatius in To the Smyrnaeans 3:2 does two decades later, as he specifically points to the risen Lord bodily eating and drinking with the disciples.[6] 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.[7] The risen Jesus both declares and demonstrates his physicality. John 20:20, 25ff offers the same demonstration. However, without the terminology of the eschatological hope of Israel, the disciples could not have realized that it was in the reality of the life of the resurrection that Jesus made himself known to them.[8] 41 While in their joy, they were disbelieving [ἀπιστούντων] and still wondering [θαυμαζόντων, or in amazement], Luke describing a reaction that grasps both the ambiguity and the excitement that they feel. This reaction corresponds to the attitude of the disciples before the death and resurrection of Jesus. Thus, the disciples are not suitable instruments for carrying-out their divine appointment. The person of Jesus is still necessary to create for them the relationship to Christ that enables them to perform what Christ performed.[9] These disciples — just like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus — could not believe what they were seeing. In this instance, then, the aphorism, namely, “seeing is not believing,” rings true. Indeed, the disciples’ reaction contradicts what many contemporary people often assume about ancient folks — specifically, that pre-moderns were a credulous and superstitious lot. C. S. Lewis has an insightful discussion of the relationship of the presuppositions people have regarding seeing and believing miracles in his essay “Miracles.”[10] Coming face to face with Jesus brings the disciples to an experience of joy coupled with disbelief -- an odd yet tellingly insightful glimpse into human reactions. As the NEB expresses it, this is a "seems too good to be true" kind of response. In verse 41b-43, at the directive of Jesus, Jesus prods these disciples into providing the everyday sort of comfort they might offer an everyday visitor -- a bit of broiled fish to eat. It seems as if these ancient skeptics needed additional evidence if they were to trust what they were seeing. Therefore, as he had done before, Jesus once more seeks to corroborate his resurrection by two means. First, he asks a question. Jesus said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" Second, as was his custom, he breaks bread with his disciples. 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.[11] To be sure, Jesus asks this question and eats with them with two purposes in mind: He wants them to believe in his resurrection; and more importantly, he wants them to understand the meaning of his resurrection. Even so, at this moment Jesus’ disciples were still unable to connect the dots, that is, to make sense of the transformational events they had just witnessed. Once again, they were like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who could recite crucial details about Jesus’ life and death (e.g., “a prophet mighty in deed and word,” he was “handed over,” “it is now the third day,” “they did not find his body,” vid. Luke 24:19-24), but who were nonetheless completely nonplussed about the meaning of the events they were describing (vid. Luke 24:25-27). Thus, to eradicate their confusion, Jesus reminds them of a fundamental teaching, namely, “[T]hat everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled” (v. 44; cf. Luke 24:27). Such an account fulfills the promise made in the last meal Jesus celebrated with his disciples that he would continue in fellowship with them in their common meal. Here, the risen Lord fulfills the promise in sharing this meal with them.[12] Caught up in performing familiar hospitality rituals, they forget their fears and learn to treat this risen Christ as they might their old master.[13]
Luke 24:44-49 is a story about the final commission of Jesus. The story is unique to Luke, some of which seems to be from Luke himself and some from his unique source. These final scenes serve three purposes. One is to close the initial “orderly account” of Luke. Two is to summarize an important motif of the gospel, that the necessity of messianic suffering. Three is to serve as a literary bridge to his next book. The focus of this appearance shifts from the disciples to the message Jesus brought to them. The time of this appearance is not specific. We cannot know if this appearance directly follows the fish-eating demonstrations. Yet, this account of the risen Lord giving the disciples their mission and the account of the ascension occur on Easter evening, at the dinner table. The risen Lord will give the disciples their marching orders while at the dinner table.
We learn that the disciples now understand two basic truths. One truth is that the action of God in Jesus of Nazareth fulfills Jewish scriptures. 44“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, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” The revelation of God occurs in an event of history. It has particularity. The event is not random. It occurs in the process of a specific history that involves the Jewish people. Of course, this text does not identify the precise passages to which the risen Lord referred. However, a survey of Luke and Acts would provide some illumination. Prophetic texts particularly that focus upon a witness to the nations, to the hope of resurrection, and to the suffering servant are in mind. 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. We like to think we have open minds. Yet, many of us are quite closed. The risen Lord wants an open mind. In addition, 46 he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. A second truth is that they are witness to the action of God in the fulfillment of the Jewish scripture. At the dinner table, Jesus reminds them of the self-less sacrifice he offered on the cross. He died for them. Here was an act of great love. Thus, 47 they are to proclaim (κηρυχθῆναι) repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem, a city that had been the goal in Luke, but is now the base or starting point of the second volume. Without human witnesses or testimony, others will not know of the action of God. The legacy of Jesus is the forgiveness of sin. Peter proclaims that everyone who believes in Jesus will receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43). The original witnesses are essential for this process. They need to be trustworthy witnesses. We need to trust them, even when their testimony seems incredulous. As importance as their witness remains for us, they point to an event in which we can share and from which we can develop our witness. Our witness will need to focus upon how the risen Lord as altered our lives. 48 You are witnesses (μάρτυρες) of these things. Witness is an important theme in Luke. The Christian mission has taken to all nations this summons to turning or conversion to God in the sense of turning to the one and only true God of Israel and of Jesus Christ.[14] All of this is consistent with a theme in Luke of the concealment of the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus. They did not understand the scripture during the life of Jesus, and therefore did not comprehend the events that led to his death and resurrection. We learn this in 9:45 and 18:34. In particular, the prophecies of the future destiny of Jesus in Luke 2:48-50, 9:44-45, 18:31-34, 22:22-23 seemed concealed from them. They were in a state of spiritual blindness. In Luke, only the risen Lord could remove the veil. Yet, what we need is a translation of the Bible into our hearts and life, which then allows us to be the witnesses the risen Lord calls us to be.[15] The real test of Sunday is not how you come in but how you go out.
The Romans martyred St. Lawrence in 258 AD. However, we remember him, not for his martyrdom, but for his being Archdeacon of Rome. His responsibilities included maintaining the sacred vessels of the small, struggling church and distributing alms to the poor. While he was archdeacon, the governor of Rome took Pope Sextus captive and demanded, "Where is the treasure of the church?" The Pope would not tell, and they tortured him to death. He never did tell, but in his agony and pain, Pope Sextus somehow mentioned the name of Archdeacon Lawrence. They took Lawrence captive. "Where is the treasure of the church?" He replied, "Governor, I cannot get it for you instantaneously; but if you give me three days, I will give you the treasure." The governor agreed. Lawrence left. Three days later, he walked into the governor's courtyard followed by a great flood of people. The governor walked out onto his balcony and said, "Where is the treasure of your church?" Lawrence stepped forward, and pointed to the crowd that accompanied him, the lame, blind, deaf, nobodies of society, and said, "Here are the treasures of the Christian church." Are we there with St. Lawrence? Are you a witness?
Then, in admission that the disciples presently lack the necessary spiritual equipment to carry out the commission, they are to look carefully, for the risen Lord is sending upon them what his Father promised. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised (ἐπαγγελίαν); so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Like Zechariah at the beginning of the gospel, they are to remain silent. The Son sending the Spirit is one of the ways the New Testament writes of the risen Lord imparting the Spirit to believers.[16] This passage is saying that Luke views the church as founded by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is different from the way Paul speaks of Christ as the foundation of the church, even if for Luke the risen Lord is the one who imparts the Spirit to believers.[17]
Luke is making it clear that the things that happened to Jesus were destined to happen. This passage is one more summary of the early Christ gospel, expressing the theology of Luke and the goals of the emerging Christian movement. They look back on Jesus from a great distance. For the author and his community, Jesus has become the object of a new faith, soon to become a world religion. The theology of Luke shapes this passage.
[1] C. H. Dodd identifies it as a mixed narrative. This text is a mixed narrative, being a concise narrative on the way to a circumstantial narrative.
[2] This verse claims a unique pedigree shared by only a small number of other texts in Luke's works. Luke 24:36, along with Luke 24:40, are among nine verses that until fairly recently had been thought to be "short versions" in their most original Greek form. First elaborated in 1881 by B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort in their two-volume work The New Testament in the Original Greek, their judgment influenced biblical translations for decades to come. Only in years that are more recent has there been serious movement away from the "short form" of these texts and a general leaning toward seeing the longer versions of these verses as the original Greek text. For verse 36, this means accepting Jesus' direct greeting to his disciples -- "Peace be with you" -- as part of the text's original message. Translators now suggest that this greeting was an essential part of this Christophany. With or without Jesus' verbal greeting, however, Luke's text vividly portrays the disciples' initial reaction to Jesus' appearance before them all.
[3] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 344.
[4] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 348-9.
[5] The repetition of the possessive is emphatic. It looks forward to the next clause that describes the result that occurs after looking at his hands and feet -- the recognition "that it is I myself."
[6] For I know that after His resurrection also He was still possessed of flesh,(7) and I believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, "Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit."(8) And immediately they touched Him, and believed, being convinced both by His flesh and spirit. For this cause also they despised death, and were found its conquerors.(12) And after his resurrection He did eat and drink with them, as being possessed of flesh, although spiritually He was united to the Father.
And I know that He was possessed of a body not only in His being born and crucified, but I also know that He was so after His resurrection, and believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, "Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit."(8) "For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have."(9) And He says to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger into the print of the nails, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side;"(10) and immediately they believed that He was Christ. Wherefore Thomas also says to Him, "My Lord, and my God."(11) And on this account also did they despise death, for it were too little to say, indignities and stripes. Nor was this all; but also after He had shown Himself to them, that He had risen indeed, and not in appearance only, He both ate and drank with them during forty entire days. And thus was He, with the flesh, received up in their sight unto Him that sent Him, being with that same flesh to come again, accompanied by glory and power. For, say the[holy] oracles, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go unto heaven."(13) But if they say that He will come at the end of the world without a body, how shall those "see Him that pierced Him,"(14) and when they recognise Him, "mourn for themselves?"(15) For incorporeal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the aspect(16) of an animal possessed of shape, because their nature is in itself simple.
[7] The verse has enjoyed a dual history as both a short version and a long version. Scholars have become increasingly convinced by the longer verse, which has Jesus put actions behind his words -- "And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet."
[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 349.
[9] Barth Church Dogmatics II.2 [35.3] 433.
[10] God in the Dock [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970], 25-37.)
[11] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 354. Verses 39-43 are a later stage in the development of the tradition that added legendary and tendentious features. Yet, a factual core remains
[12] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 283.
[13] The text says nothing more about the disciples' thoughts, their doubts or fears. Instead, “Do you have anything here to eat?” (v. 41b).; thus when “[t]hey gave him a piece of broiled fish ... he took it and ate in their presence” (vv. 42-43; cf. Luke 24:30; John 21:9-14). 24: 44-49, Story About Jesus' Final Commission (L & Lk, Concise Narrative)
[14] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 245.
[15] William Booth once said, “I want to see a new translation of the Bible into the hearts and conduct of living men and women. It is of no use making correct translations of words, if we cannot get the words translated into life."
[16] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 4.
[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 15.
No comments:
Post a Comment