Events surrounding the Resurrection

Transcript

The New Testament portion of our reading today is Luke chapter 24, and this of course is the chapter that introduces us to the risen Lord. It is an event that was, you know, outside of the creation itself. This is the most important event in world history. And I thought that it would be good for us to take some time and look at the chapter. And to do that, I'd like for us to start really at the foot of the cross. The end of chapter 23 brings us to the crucifixion of our Lord. We find that Jesus has breathed his last, and it's now time to take his broken body off of that crucifixion execution stake. And our Lord is to be buried. And in Luke chapter 23, we read about that. I'll jump in at the 50th verse. It says, there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man. Wouldn't that be wonderful if that was how the Bible recorded our lives, brothers and sisters, a good and upright man or a good and upright woman. Verse 51 says, He had not consented to their decision and action regarding the crucifixion of Jesus. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth, placed it in a tomb, cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. And so you may know, brothers and sisters, that the Jewish ritual of burial was one that needed to take place quickly, particularly before a Sabbath. And in the first century, the Jewish burial customs followed a pattern that was established centuries earlier. And what would happen is the body of the deceased would be washed, would be wrapped in linen clothes, and it would be placed in a family tomb or a family cave. And then spices and perfumes, oils would be applied outside the body on the burial cloths. And this was done quickly after death because burial had to be before sundown, especially, as I said, before a Sabbath or a feast day. And the purpose of the spices, and so what we're going to read next in verse 55 says

that the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath day. So these spices, these ointments that would be placed were done sort of like how we might consider placing flowers at a grave site. It was done out of honor and respect. I think it was also done, quite frankly, as a masking agent. You remember when Lazarus died, the decomposition of his body in a hot climate was rapid and the spices helped to reduce any odor that might take place. And it was just tradition, as I said, like bringing flowers to a grave today, expressed devotion after death. So we have at the foot of the cross Jesus' disciples witnessing his body lifeless. And I think it's fair to say that these men, many of whom had fled, and the women that were there were in despair. Chapter 24 begins on the next day. And it's here that we see the women now after the Sabbath coming to the tomb. So what I'd like to do is I'd like to,

this evening, I'd like for us to read a section of passages and then discuss those things. So before we get on to Chapter 24, I'm just going to open it up. Is there anything that stands out to people? Is there anything that anyone would like to share about Joseph of Arimathea, for example? Thoughts? Steve, I'm always, I'm always shocked a bit at his faith and courage given his position. You know, he and Nicodemus come with a significant weight, you know, 75 pounds of spices. And it's just, he clearly, he wasn't just against what the Sanhedrin was interested in doing, but he didn't care what the consequences were in his life. And I think that's a real statement of faith, an example of faith for us. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a great point, Steve. You know, he was a man of import. He likely had a lot to lose if he were to fall out of favor. But it didn't matter to him. He did what was right. David, David, you've got your hand up. Yeah, that hand. Okay. I think I said this before in this format, but there's very significant things about what Joseph did other than an act of honor. One thing to remember is, as you just said, the disciples were in despair. None of them were involved in the burial, right? The work of Joseph and Nicodemus, the twelve were hiding. They were afraid. They were afraid. They were, they were not expecting a resurrection. Joseph had to be expecting a resurrection and he knew that he needed to provide an actual verifiable grave site that could be proven to be occupied and then empty too. That's more than just an act of faith and an act of devotion that he did. It was a logistical act. Yeah, so your thinking is that Joseph, unlike the apostles, Joseph was expecting the resurrection and using his tomb would provide that verifiable place where they could say he was buried here and he's no longer buried. Yes. I'm pretty sure that that was part of the picture and I thought you'd also comment on the role of unwitting role of the Pharisees to set the guard, which made the, I think the phrase is unwitting witnesses. They were the only people actually at the tomb at the time the angels opened it. Yeah. You know, and you think about how important that is because, you know, the common criminal, the normal procedure would be to take these bodies off the execution stake and throw them into the Gehenna fire, you know, amongst the refuse. And the fact that Joseph stepped up and provided his tomb, as David points out, does provide that verification. If Jesus had simply been thrown into the Gehenna fire, how would they ever be able to prove and demonstrate that he was who he said he was and that what was to happen did in fact happen, raised from the dead? All part of the amazing series of events that made the resurrection believable, verifiable. Absolutely. In addition to the appearances and so forth. Yeah. Thanks for that. Anybody else have a thought? David, did you have something more? There was something else but that left my brain right now. I have another question for later. You might actually bring it up. Sure. Dominic. Yeah. Yes. I have a question back,

let's see, it's, I guess, verse 51, but he had not agreed with the decision and actions of the other religious leaders. So here's a member of the Jewish High Council who was going really against what his brothers had decided was the way to go concerning

Jesus, who he was and what they should do about him. So that kind of raises a lot of questions about

our own conscious consciousness and how we handle things that we're really not, maybe not in agreement with wholeheartedly. Interesting. So I'm looking for maybe some comments on that. Clarify that a little bit. You're talking about in an ecclesial setting? Yeah, I guess that's how it would pertain to us. Yeah. So when I think of Joseph, the record tells us that he opposed the decision, but

we don't know really what happened to him afterwards. I presume he remained a member of the council. I don't think the record says one way or the other, but he spoke his mind. He acted on his conscience. Anybody else have thoughts on Tom's question? I'm not sure. Yeah. The tradition has it that Joseph of Arbor Thea went to England as a missionary, whether there's a lot of, it is tradition, but it would fit his profile like the type of man that he was. Interesting. Hmm. Okay. Luke? A few thoughts. I was trying to find my notes and then while I found a psalm that references some of it, that was, this came up in a class I gave some months ago and I was trying to find my notes and I couldn't, but trying to scrap it from my faulty memory. We know piecing together from the four gospels, we know that Joseph and Nicodemus one of them says that they were disciples of the Lord, but secretly because of the Pharisees. They were also part of the council, but they did not vote along with them. Right. Because they respected Jesus. Though they hid their love, they loved him. Being of the council, we could dare to say in their society, they were rich men. One gospel mentions that tomb he put him in was his own tomb that he had cut out of the school. He was a wealthy man. Now earlier in the gospel, Jesus had made reference when he was criticizing the Pharisees and scribes as hypocrites. He made mention that they were like whited sepulchers, whitewashed sepulchers, tombs, people walk upon the bones, they don't know it. So they had an appearance in that word show. But that would lead me to think that Joseph's own personal tomb that he had cut out for himself may have been whitewashed. Now he and Nicodemus wrap them up in these herbs of like aloes and myrrh. And when I was studying up myrrh, it was a principal ingredient in the high priest's anointing oil. Not just for high priests, but also anointing the king. Like King David would have been anointed by Samuel and that anointing oil would have myrrh mixed into it. It was a holy anointing oil. Isn't that interesting? And the record tells us that he was looking forward to the kingdom of God. So that would fit in well. And these things with myrrh and the whited sepulcher come together. I was looking at Psalm 45. Okay. And it speaks of Christ. That's a great deal we found. Hello. Go ahead Luke. So I guess take it up from verse six. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of ivory palaces whereby they've made thee glad. So it speaks of like the resurrection. Jesus coming out of this whitewashed sepulcher and he smells of aloe and cassia and myrrh. And when he appeared in the upper room with the 12 by surprise, someone could say, you smell like a priest. All these things are coming together. Yeah, that's cool. Thanks for sharing that. I think of the tomb that Jesus was buried in. It was a tomb that had not yet been used. And so up until that point, it would not have been whitewashed. But when Jesus was placed in the tomb, it's then that they would have whitewashed it, particularly before a holy day, because these people would be traveling from all over the country to come to the high holidays in Jerusalem. And if on their way they inadvertently got near a dead man's bones, they would be ceremonially unclean and unable to attend the services they held so far to go to. And so the whitewash was sort of like a warning. It was a flashing beacon that says stay away. Interesting. Stephen, I know you had your hand up and I do want to continue on with a long chapter and not a lot of time. But do you have a brief comment? Yeah, just noticed at the end of 51 it says, and he was looking for the kingdom of God. Yeah, right. Yeah, great point. And that would go along with what Luke had said, that these anointing oils and spices were right in line with the anointing of a king. Yeah. Cool thoughts. Okay. So in chapter 24, we find the women now coming. Now, these women that were coming to the tomb were women that had been with Jesus really all along. And I'm going to have you turn over to Luke chapter eight, just briefly, or I'll read it. It's Luke chapter eight, verse two. And in this particular chapter, we see the identification of them. So beginning in the first verse, after this, Jesus traveled about from town to town, village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out. Joanna, the wife of Cusa, the manager of Herod's household, Susanna, and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. So that's one verse that I think is interesting. We know that these women were well off financially, and they were supporting the ministry of Jesus, and they were in a position where they could afford these costly spices, et cetera. I'm going to go to one other passage because I think we'll see a connection later on in our class, but we're going to go to John chapter 19. And in verse 25, we see another identification of some of the women who were there. And this is now at the foot of the cross. This is at the crucifixion, and we see the names of some of the women who were there supporting Jesus in the midst of his agony, in the midst of his shame, and they were there providing support. So again, John this time, chapter 19, and in verse 25, it says, Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Dear woman, here is your son. And so this passage from John identifies another woman who's there at the foot of the cross and calls her Mary, the wife of Clopas. So we see a number of the people, the number of the women there that were supporting Jesus in his ministry, supporting Jesus in his death, and now they are heading over to the tomb to further anoint his body. Now it may go without saying, but when we're anointing a body, they were going there fully expecting a deceased body to be found. They had no idea about the resurrection. It hadn't crossed their mind. Their expectation was to find Jesus' broken body wrapped in that tomb. And so back to Luke chapter 24, it says on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the woman took the spices they had prepared. They went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away. They found the stone rolled away. And Mark, they are talking amongst themselves as they're heading to the tomb and they're wondering who's going to roll away the stone. And so when they arrived to their surprise, they found that the stone had been rolled away. Verse three, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleaned lightning stood beside them. And in their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? And we know the powerful story that goes on. He's not here. He is risen. Remember how he told you while you were there in the tomb. And then the passage says, then they remembered his words. So there are a couple of thoughts on this. One is that the women were there amongst the men and they're not referenced in the gospel records as sort of being intermingled with the men. And so often, I think we read these passages about Jesus speaking to the disciples. And at least in my mind, I often think of Jesus and just the 12, for example, there with him. But on many occasions, there were others, including the women. And the angels here are referencing the fact that these women heard Jesus proclaim that he would be raised on the third day. So let's pause there. And I'm all ears to hear what you might have to say. So Steve, are you going to go? Are you going to go to the road road to Emmaus with with with Yeah, yeah, you are. All right. Yeah. Yeah, we can talk about that then. But yeah. Okay. All right. So what we find next is verse nine. You know, they remembered his words in verse eight. You might wonder what their thoughts were. Were they ashamed that they had forgotten? Were they joyful that they remembered? And we might ask, you know, an exhortational question to us. You know, how do we respond when we remember his words? Yeah, David, you've got a hand raised. I think the possible answer to that question is how it how it how did they respond was, oh, that's what he meant. Yeah. The one most most important passage that sums it all up is in Luke 18. Okay, says, and taking the 12, he said to them, See, we are going up to Jerusalem. This is verse 31. I can't see. I don't have my reading glasses. So I can't read the little. Yeah. What is the okay. And everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished, for he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him. And on the third day, he will rise. And then this what Luke says, it's threefold. Well, thank you, love. Okay, here we go. But they understood none of these things, the same was hidden from them. And they did not grasp what he said. And this was the third time that Jesus had said these explicit words. Yeah. So what do you mean? What does it mean when it was hidden from them? Was this God like bringing a veil over them so that they purposely couldn't understand? Yeah, I think what they heard was the words, but they had no context or no nothing previous in their brains to associate what he said on third day he will rise. Which leads me to the question I was going to ask earlier. Okay, as this thought just occurred to me yesterday, for the first time in 50 years. So when they saw Jesus alive, because he said he was going to rise. But when did they realize that he just wasn't alive, but he was now immortal? Yeah. Did they? Did they get that from the beginning that he had to teach him? Somebody got an idea on that. I remember, we had a brother in our class, Doug Eagles. Doug often drew a distinction between someone having been raised and someone having been resurrected. There are a lot of people in scripture, not a lot, but you know, there are a number of occasions where people were raised to life again, like Lazarus, only to die, finish out the rest of their lives and fall asleep. But with Jesus, he was not only raised, but he was resurrected to eternal life. And the question that you ask, I think is a good one. I don't know the answer to it. But at some point, maybe it's at the end of the chapter when he ascends to heaven that they're like, oh, this is different. Maybe it was then, maybe it was before that. I don't know. Yeah. But you know, if you think about how this applies to us, how many times do we come to Christ with limited expectations? You know, they just couldn't grasp what might take place. It was hidden from them, as you pointed out, but just like the feasibility of it, it just didn't enter their minds. And there perhaps are things like that in our own lives, maybe in our own prayer life. Yeah. So thoughts about that? Steve, I have a thought back of what you were talking to Dave about. And why couldn't they grasp the resurrection? Yeah. And just my personal thought on the subject has always been that before he ever talks about three days later, they're going to be raised from the dead, that they simply couldn't grasp the concept that he could be grabbed and flogged and killed. And so the rest of it sort of like just followed along. Because if you think about it, I mean, this is the guy that could calm the sea. This is the guy that could raise the dead. This is the guy that could heal the sick. So the concept that somebody could grab him and beat him and spit on him and crucify him was completely absurd. Unless, of course, he allowed it to happen, which I don't think would have ever even entered anybody's head. So for me, long before he ever gets to the point of saying, you know, and then three days later, I'm going to raise from the dead. And they're like, we don't get it. And I think, well, obviously, you're not going to die. So, you know, for me, that's always kind of how I feel about it.

I think that makes sense, Jim. You know, they were fully expecting Christ to

overthrow the Romans then. You know, we thought it was on the road to Emmaus. You know, we thought it was he that was going to redeem Israel. Yeah, Brother Richard. Yeah. On the day the disciples were there when

Lazarus was raised from the dead. Well, there are a lot of people. Well, the reason why I asked that was because it seems like so far, it seems like they couldn't perceive resurrection. Jesus being resurrected. Yeah, when he was there. Yeah, I think they I think they were there. They saw him. But again, you know, I think Jim's point was they were expecting Jesus not to be the suffering service servant, but the conquering king. And so when he began to suffer the way he did, they thought, oh, we must have just completely misunderstood this whole thing. Or are we you know, is that what you're saying, Jim? Yeah, partially. I think I think the concept that the man that they've been following for three and a half years could possibly be apprehended, beaten, crucified, was completely nonsensical. This man controlled everything. Yeah. So how could anybody possibly grab this guy and, and crucify him? It's not even it's not even feasible. Unless, of course, he allowed it to happen. He's gonna allow it to happen. Yeah. Right. And I think there's an excitational point here, you know, I think, and this is kind of an aside, but not, you know, in this day and age, there are a lot of people who look at what's happening in the world today. And I've talked with some young people. And, and they think that they need to or there's a responsibility to stand up to the government or to protest or to, you know, fight back for the benefit of those who are lesser, you know, people who are being persecuted because of their nationality or their heritage, for example. And I think it's good for us to remember Jesus in the garden, you know, telling his disciples to put the sword away, he could have called on, you know, legions of angels to fix the situation right then, but he didn't. And I think that speaks to your point, Jim, about, you know, Jesus allowing this to happen. All right. Back to Luke chapter 24. What happens now is the women, they, they remember, they are prompted by the angels to say, don't you remember when Jesus told you this would happen? David brought us to Luke 18. We saw Jesus proclaiming this to his disciples, including the women. They are pricked and they remember. And as soon as they do, what do they do? They run to tell the others. They want to share this good news. They want to proclaim that the Lord has been raised. So verse nine of chapter 24 tells us when they came back from the tomb, they told all of these things to the 11 and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the others with them who told this to the apostles. Verse 11, but they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb and bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying there themselves. And he went away wondering to himself what had happened. So once again, you know, their expectations were, were, were off. They thought there was no way this man could be raised. And when the women came and told them, they discounted that perhaps because they were women and they were viewed as a second class citizen in those eight days, it could be that it just seemed so fancical that they discounted it. We might ask, how could they not believe? You know, Jesus told them time and again. But the answer I do believe is that these things, as we said, they were hidden from them. Any, any thoughts, any discussions that you'd like to bring out on that? Okay, so now we come to the section that Steve referenced about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. So let me read the first section, first part of this account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. It says, now, that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. And as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. Similar word phrase, you know, it was hidden from them earlier. And now these two disciples were kept from recognizing Jesus. And he asked them, what are you discussing together as you walk along? And they stood still. So as though they stopped in their tracks, they couldn't imagine that somebody could ask such a question with all of the hubbub that had gone on in Jerusalem. They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas or Clovis asked, are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days? And then Jesus begins to converse with them. So there are a couple of things that I want to bring out here, brothers and sisters. You might remember that

before the crucifixion, not only did Jesus tell the disciples that he was going to die and would be raised to life again on the third day, he also told them that after his death, they should go where? He told them specifically that they should go to Galilee. And what we find happening here is these two disciples were going in the opposite direction of Galilee. Galilee is to the northeast. Emmaus is to the northwest. Galilee is far away. Emmaus is closer. Some of you may have heard a talk I had given at the Eastern Bible School on Emmaus. Emmaus was the location where Judas Maccabeus led a revolt against the Seleucid Empire. This was the empire that had its thumb on the Jewish nation. This was the group that had put the idols in Yahweh's temple. And Judas Maccabeus fought back and redeemed Israel

from the Seleucid Empire. And so when we hear the words or the names of places like Gettysburg, or we in New England hear the words of, you know, the names of the towns, you know, Lexington and Concord, our mind immediately goes to things like the Civil War or goes to thoughts about the American Revolutionary War. And what I'm suggesting is that when the first century disciples heard the name Emmaus, it had that same sort of connection that we might feel towards Lexington and Concord. It's the location where we fought back against our enemies and won. And when Jesus died and was revealed at the time not to be the conquering hero, not to be the one who, as the disciples say in a few minutes, would be the redeemer of Israel, they were disillusioned. They were in despair at the foot of the cross and now days later they are disillusioned. And all of the energy and the commitment they made to following Jesus and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God seem to have been for nothing. And my suggestion is that these two disciples were sort of going back to Emmaus where it all began and they were sort of washing their hands of Jesus and they were going to find a new redeemer, one who would help them overthrow the Roman Empire who was making their lives so miserable, who was making it so hard to worship Yahweh. And they wanted to see the Romans overthrown the same way the Seleucids were overthrown in Emmaus. Any thoughts on that? Any discussions? Where does it say, I have it in my notes and I can't find it at the moment, about going to Galilee. Does anybody have a note on that? Nobody? Let's see, I got it somewhere. Looking at my notes. Matthew, let's look at Matthew chapter 26 and we'll look at verse 32. So, this is the occasion after the Lord's Supper when Jesus is predicting Peter's denial. Jesus told them, this very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it's written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered, but after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. So, Jesus tells them that not only is going to be raised to life again, but he's going to go to Galilee. And the inference is that they are to go there as well where they can have their rendezvous, far away from the pressure pot of Jerusalem. So, we find in Matthew 26 that they are to go to Galilee. Mark chapter 14 verse 28, Jesus says, but after I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. And I think we can clearly infer that Jesus is telling them in advance where they can expect him. But again, it was lost on them. And so, instead of going to Galilee, they went in the opposite direction to Emmaus. Now, I want you to think about this. Our Lord cared for these two disciples so much that he was prepared to walk with them in the wrong direction until they could turn around of their own volition and head in the right way. Before Jesus was crucified, he prayed that none of them would be lost. And his prayer that none would be lost was not exclusively to those who were alive before the

crucifixion. Even after he was raised to life again, Jesus has an interest in his disciples. Jesus loves and cares for all of us that none would be lost, even if it means that he's got to walk with us in the wrong way until we figure it out. He's not going to leave us. He's going to walk with us. And I think that's a comforting thought in my mind. Comments? Steve, that command to go to Galilee, or you call it a command, is reiterated by the angel at the tomb in Matthew 28. He says to the women, or he says, is it to the women? Yeah. He says, then go quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead. And behold, he's going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. Yeah, thanks. Jesus says it first, and then the angel reiterates the importance of that. Just as the angel reminded the women at the tomb, don't you remember he told you these things? Jesus is reminding them, will rendezvous in Galilee. Yeah, that's good. I think it's also in Mark 16. I think we see the same thing. Thanks for that, Steve. That's helpful. Yeah. So they're going in the wrong direction, and Jesus walks with them. So, Steve, do you want to share the thoughts about Clopas? Well, I think there's a hint there, and I don't know if this is universally understood this way in Christadelfia, but it seems to me like the likely two who are on the road to Emmaus are Mary, the sister of Jesus's mom, Mary. I mean, so the wife of Clopas that's named that you brought us to in John, and then her husband. So this would be like really close relatives. And my guess is at this point in time, Jesus would have had the kind of power that he would have. He probably maybe even was the one who made it so they didn't recognize him. I mean, they clearly would have known who he was. If that was true, they were that closely related to him. They would clearly know who it was. Yeah. And it's like you said, you know, for me, you know, I look at this account and I think, okay, this is, there are two disciples, one of whom is unnamed. But when we sort of read the record and think about it, the one that's named is a man by the name of Clopas. But we're told that his wife Mary was at the foot of the cross. And so it doesn't take a whole lot of stretching to imagine a husband and wife walking together, talking about

Jesus. And I just find great comfort in that, you know, in the Old Testament, in the Jewish scriptures, you know, when you go by the way, you know, we are to talk about these things. And I think it's a great exhortation if it is in fact Clopas and his wife Mary, you know, for those of us who are married, to be able to have a relationship with your spouse where you can speak about godly things, where you can be talking about, you know, these important things together, whether it's your spouse or, you know, maybe it's a, you know, just a member of the Ecclesia or a friend. These are the things that we're to do, brothers and sisters. You know, our discipleship doesn't, you know, begin and end, you know, Sunday mornings. It should be part of who we are and the conversations that we share. Yeah. And he engendered in them such excitement. You know, it went from the terrible low of her being at the foot of the cross and them in despair walking back to Emmaus. They had ignored, you know, to go to Galilee. They were walking back to Emmaus because, like you said, they had hoped for another redeemer from elsewhere at that point in time. But then, you know, he reveals, and it's not a short way to go to Emmaus. I don't know how, it was a few miles. It was seven miles on foot. Yeah. Yeah. So that's more than 10,000 steps, as they say. Yeah. And then and then they're so excited and reinvigorated by their Lord that they turn around in the same night. They go all the way back. Yeah. And it's fascinating. You know, we talked about Jesus walking in the wrong way with them and they didn't recognize it with Jesus. It was Jesus. But then when they go back, Jesus is walking right there as well. You know, so he's walking with them both ways. Hey, Dana, I saw you had a hand up and you have a comment. Yeah. The first time I heard that theory that you are presenting was Ron Cowey had presented that it possibly was Cleopas and his wife. And the logic- Ron got that from Steve Harper, just for the record. Okay. Well, the logic he used was the fact that Cleopas was speaking logically and presenting the facts. But then we get to the point where it says, but we trusted that he'd be the one. And that's more of an emotional answer. And that possibly could come from a woman that he's being logical and factual. And she's being emotional, saying we trusted, you know, almost like a sorrow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so every time I read that, I kind of

read it with that texture that, yeah, it is a husband and wife. Now we can't prove it, but- No, but it makes sense. It does. Yeah. Thanks, Dana. Yeah. Good. Interesting. Okay. So as we continue down, I'm looking, we're at 820. So we're going to move along here, brothers and sisters. But when we come down in this account on the road to Emmaus,

it says in verse 28, as they approached the village- So Jesus has just sort of been sharing with them, you know, all about who he was. So it says, they approached the village to which they were going. Jesus acted as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly, stay with us for it's nearly evening. The day is almost over. And, you know, it's at this point that I want us to break out our hymn books and sing abide with me together, right? You know, abide with me, fast falls the eventide. You know, this is the account here. So when he was at the table with them in verse 30, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. And then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. So, you know, what a lesson for us as we break bread on a Sunday morning to, you know, consider the things that Jesus has said and to make these things the reality that they are. So they asked each other, we're not our hearts burning within us when we talked with us on the road and he opened the scriptures to us. And, you know, maybe we've got to get that burning feeling in our hearts when we read the scriptures and we have these conversations and to share the joy of a life and faith with one another. You know, their joy was just, what's the word, effervescent. It was just bubbling over and they had just, you know, walked seven miles one way and they immediately turn around so that they can share the good news with others. And Jesus is there with them. He was, you know, it says that he was hidden from their sight, but he was right there. He walked back. And verse 32 says, they got up, returned at once to Jerusalem, they found the and assembled together. And they said, it's true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. And I don't know about you, but in my mind, I go back to John's gospel where, you know, Andrew goes and says, you know, it's true. We found the Messiah. Whether it was at the beginning of his ministry or here at the beginning of his eternal life. You know, they're just, they're bubbling over and sharing this good news. Any thoughts, any comments before we move on to verse 36? Okay. Verse 36, while they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace, shalom, peace be with you. Now put yourselves again in the shoes of these disillusioned disciples of our Lord, who were hiding in Jerusalem for fear that they, like Jesus, might get executed. They were scared, brothers and sisters. And Jesus comes in the midst of their anxiety, in the midst of their fear. And he says the simple words, peace. Verse 37 says, they were startled and frightened thinking they saw a ghost. So this in some ways troubled me as a seeer, you know, that the disciples of Jesus would have imagined a ghost and that Jesus didn't, you know, stop and say, no, no, no, no, there's no such thing as ghosts.

Brother David, I remember you had written an article that I got a lot out of talking about the soul and how this sort of came into the thinking of the, you know, men's thoughts from Greek literature, et cetera. And the thought that, you know, this might, this idea of ghosts or visions would be real among even the disciples of Jesus was a little disconcerting.

But what I would say is to me, this is an example that helps me really believe that the resurrection did take place. This was not a figment of imagination because Jesus goes to comfort their distorted minds. It's a ghost and Jesus says, no, no, no, you're not experiencing a vision, touch me. You know, it allowed the people that would later ask these disciples, was he really alive or was it just like wishful thinking on your part? Jesus goes and he has a meal with them on the beach and he leaves the, you know, the remnants of that meal for them to tangibly touch and see. This was not a vision, brothers and sisters. This was the real deal. This man who was dead was raised to life again. And the proof was that he could say to them, touch me. Why do you have doubts in your minds? See me, feel me. To me, it's another evidence of the resurrection no different than how we started our class talking about the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had set aside. It was a way to demonstrate publicly that this was not a figment of anybody's imagination, but the reality of life. So verse 45 says, then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures and he told them, this is what was written that the Christ will suffer. And he explained all of these things. And then the chapter ends with Jesus leading them out to Bethany, where he lifted up his hands and he blesses them and he was taken up into heaven. And then it says in verse 52, then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. So we see them, you know, despairing at the beginning and concluding in worship and joy. And brothers and sisters, that should be our life in faith. We should follow the example of these men and women who experienced the joy of having seen the risen Lord and we can take confidence that Jesus is alive and that our lives today are different and that our future in the kingdom of God is assured if we simply endure to the end. So may we be like them. It says they stayed continually at the temple praising God and we praise God for this wonderful word. So thanks for your attention everybody. I enjoyed the conversation. Thanks, Steve. Well done. It really brings it to life, especially with all of the commentary and different perspectives. So very nice class. Does anybody else have anything for Steve before we close in prayer? Luke? Thanks, brother Steve. Wonderful chapter to open up with us. Yeah. Something I really love, like when you bring us these closing verses where he comes to the upper room and reveals himself, handle me and see. I love the part where he says, have you got any food? Yeah. He says to have a meal with them. So beautifully sociable and another just a point like when we meet friends, Christians who believe that you don't need anything beyond the four gospels, you don't need the Old Testament anymore. I love where Jesus then opens up the scriptures to them. It shows right there in the verse. He spoke to them everything that was written of him in the law, the prophets, the Psalms concerning himself. So the whole book is necessary. The whole Old Testament, it's about Jesus and it teaches us about him. And if we deprive ourselves of the Old Testament, we lose a lot. Absolutely. We encourage our friends to read the whole Bible and learn more about him. Yeah. And that's a great way. That's a great way to bring them to that section where we can talk about the importance of Jewish scriptures. Yeah. Richard? Yeah, I'd like to comment on the last statement that Brother Steve that you made about enduring the holy fast to the end. Yeah. I think one verse that really stands out to me to sum up what you said in Colossians chapter one,

whereas he's talking about those who were alienated in their minds and had no part with Christ. But he, in Colossians 1.22, in the body of his flesh to death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in the sight, if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. So the gospel is the key, isn't it? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you.