Lesson 5: Resurrection According to Luke (Part 1)

After examining what Paul, Mark, Matthew, and now Luke say about resurrection, you get the idea that we are looking at the development of a narrative rather than a report of historic events.

For instance, Luke makes additions that seem to compensate for Christ’s failure to return when expected. After Jesus is raised, he appears in the body for 40 days. He then ascends bodily to the right hand of God in heaven, where he remains until the Great Restoration. In the meantime, he pours out the Holy Spirit he shares with the Father on his followers. The implication is that he is now present in the Spirit among us until his return in the body in the future.

Gone is any mention of the Great Resurrection happening before the present generation passes away. Instead, Luke emphasizes that only the Father knows the time, perhaps an acknowledgment that some predictions attributed to Jesus were mistaken. Gone is the immediacy and with it some of the urgency. A new timeline line has been laid out that accommodates an ongoing church.

Luke also puts a different spin on what happens in the future Great Resurrection. He first pictures it as a great reversal that turns the present social structure upside down. The first shall be last and the last first. The Gospel is literally good news for the poor for they will be rich. At the same time, it is bad news for the rich for they will be hungry and sad. The best illustration among many is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Significantly, the rich man does not have a name. Just as he does not know the name of the poor beggar at his door, so too in the Resurrection, God will not know his. This is hardly Matthew’s Last Judgment when God reveals and judges the secret thoughts of all. This is a simple reversal the commonest observer can readily make.

However, then Luke throws in a second characteristic that at first seems to complicate our understanding of the Great Resurrection. Over and over again, he describes it as a time of great forgiveness. He seems to imply even though a great reversal is appropriate, God nonetheless forgives all. This seems quite natural as love, forgiveness, and mercy permeate Luke’s gospel. If we are to love our enemies, you expect God will do the same; if we are to forgive those who offend us, you expect God will do the same. And of course, the best illustration of this again among many is the parable of the Prodigal Son.

This second mark of resurrection is reinforced at the crucifixion. Mark and Matthew use Jesus’ words to portray his suffering. Luke uses them to illustrate what Jesus is doing. He prays, “Forgive them for they know not what they are doing” and then he forgives a thief. In the end, all is forgiven as God understands the frailty of humans who simply do not know any better.

In Luke’s account, resurrection can be read as more than being raised from death. It is also ascending to the Father. Jesus is already raised to be with God where he now shares the divine spirit.

If resurrection is sharing God’s spirit, Luke makes clear in the Pentecost story, Jesus already shares that Holy Spirit with his followers. As Paul maintained those who are baptized already partially experience being raised in the Great Resurrection. Their sins are forgiven.

I’ll continue this next week by looking at how Luke makes changes to Jesus’ Easter resurrection.

Tags: Luke delays the Resurrection, Luke’s Account of the Resurrection, Luke’s Words from the Cross, Pentecost as Timeline to Resurrection, questions About Resurrection, Resurrection as Ascension, Resurrection as Forgiveness in Luke, Resurrection as Reversal in. Luke, the Biblical Understanding of Resurrection, The Empty Tomb on Easter, The Resurrection of the Dead