Lesson 6: Resurrection According to Luke (2)
Last week, I noted Luke presents quite a different version of the universal resurrection than Mark and Matthew. This week, I want to examine how he likewise makes significant changes in how Jesus’ resurrection has been reported.
You still have the empty tomb, but it simply indicates Jesus is alive. There are no instructions for his apostles to return to Galilee where Christ awaits them. Instead, all the appearances in Luke-Acts happen in the vicinity of Jerusalem and the apostles are told to remain in the Holy City.
It seems like the attempt to explain the resurrection has led Luke to lay out a timeline that accounts for his explanation. There is a 40-day period when Jesus makes physical appearances that ends with the Ascension. There is then Pentecost that begins a continuous time when the church experiences his spiritual presence. The times themselves seem symbols as much as historical events, as even Luke does not totally observe them. And as we shall see, John clearly does not.
Luke’s main appearance story features a stranger encountering two disciples walking the Road to Emmaus. When they eventually recognize he is the Risen Lord, they head back to Jerusalem.
You get the feeling that Jesus appearing as stranger whom his disciples do not recognize speaks to how often we are unaware of Jesus’ presence among us. You also wonder if Jesus’ being known in opening the scriptures and breaking bread with them doesn’t refer to our becoming aware of his’ presence when we open the scriptures and share the communion meal.
There is also repeated mention of remembering. Down through the years, theologians have suggested all sorts of far-fetched intellectual explanations for how Christ is present in the Communion meal. Perhaps we should let it stand with the biblical recognition that remembering makes the past present.
The same themes are part of the appearance that takes place when the two report to the apostles. After Jesus suddenly stands among them and shows he is a real person not an hallucination, he again helps them remember by opening the scriptures and eating with them.
It certainly seems that Luke is deliberately providing a narrative for the ongoing church. We have moved from believers awaiting Jesus’ imminent physical return to a community experiencing his spiritual presence. Jesus is raised to share the divine spirit which he then pours out on his followers.
Resurrection still is a promise that we shall participate in God’s making all right in the future. However, Luke makes clear we can begin right now enjoying the peace, justice, and love involved. His message is much like Paul’s. The baptized in some ways are already raised to new life. Their sins are forgiven; they share the divine spirit.
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