First Preachers of the Resurrection
I love the first resurrection story in
all the Gospels – even the one in Mark that our earliest of records don’t
contain so we are pretty sure that it was an addition to the original
letter. They all have one thing in
common. The one thing that is universally
true across the board – outside of the resurrection, which is of preeminent
importance – is that the women were told the message of the resurrection. These women were told to bring it to the
apostles. And the apostles don’t believe
them.
In fact, here in Luke it is almost as
if he is relishing this tidbit of information.
When the chapter opens we simply hear about “they went” and “they found”
and “they were perflexed” and “they were frightened” and “they remembered.” Luke intentionally holds us in the dark about
who actually went to the tomb until we get the whole way past the story in Luke
24:10! It is as if Luke wanted to set up
the readers to assume it was the disciples and then surprise the reader by
saying it was the women, not the disciples!
No matter how you spin it and no matter
which Gospel story you read you cannot escape the truth of Jesus’ witness. The first preachers of the resurrection were
women. The first people that Jesus told
to carry the truth of the fulfillment of God’s plan were the faithful women who
followed Him to the end. They were the
ones who followed Him the whole way to the cross and even to the tomb. They were the ones who get the honor of
preaching the first resurrection sermon!
The Response of the Disciples
I always find this so striking. Without fail the witness of the Gospel
accounts is that the disciples – all of them, not just the Twelve – were not
prepared for the story. I believe this
state of unpreparedness is true on multiple levels.
- I don’t think they were prepared for the resurrection at all; but truthfully, who among us would have been prepared for that if we were in their shoes? I can’t say that I truly would have fared any better had I been living this story and not told about the story after thousands of years.
- I also don’t think that they were prepared to hear God’s truth being proclaimed to them from women. Culturally speaking, this was anathema. The testimony of women was not even admissible in a courtroom; why would they be prepared to listen?
But then again, Jesus certainly taught
against the cultural standards of the day!
The disciples nearly miss out on the
greatest ending of the greatest story ever told because they were
unprepared. I don’t really mean that to
judge them. We go through our own life
just as unprepared for what God is trying to do as they did. So I’m not really criticizing them; I’m learning
about my own life through them and recognizing the need to try and not make the
same mistakes. Or, try not to make the
same mistakes in the same ways.
But this is so hard to accomplish. When God is in one’s life, the effects from
time to time are so mind-blowing they are hard to see coming. No, I’m not talking about the wow moments of
supernatural, for those are seldom and few and far between. What I’m talking about is the slow and steady
progress of spirituality within a person committed to God. To see how far a person truly committed to
God can grow in a few weeks, a few months, or even a year is simply
mind-blowing. To watch how the God takes
the subtle messages from the spiritual people with whom we interact and then ties
them into our life over and over again is mind-blowing. God does that kind of stuff all the time when
we are willing to look for it. Who can
honestly prepare themselves for all of these demonstrations of His power?
Sometimes with God I feel like I am
ever-teetering on the brink of missing out on what God is trying to do just
because I am so unprepared to even look in the right direction. We must be vigilant. We must be grateful that we have a God who is
willing to come and explain it to us when we are about to miss the boat.
Emmaus
That leads us right into the story from
Emmaus. Here is a pair of disciples
walking away from Jerusalem amazed at all the things that happened in such a
quick time. But there was something
still missing from among them. As open
as their ears were, their eyes still weren’t open the whole way! Jesus still had work to do among them, and remember
that these disciples were in Jerusalem to watch the events unfold
first-hand!
So Jesus comes among them, and they
recognize Him only in what seems to us as “almost-too-late” manner. Of course, we know that God’s timing is
perfect. I find it important this
morning to see how neat it was to see that Jesus wanted to help them get fully
prepared. He didn’t want them to miss
out on the completeness of God’s act. So
although they weren’t living with fully opened eyes, God saw it fit to come
among them and make sure they didn’t miss the whole point of the resurrection
story. We must be grateful that God
comes and clues us in on the whole truth indeed!
The Rest of the Disciples
So it is with the story of the
disciples. Even Jesus’ most trusted
disciples are unprepared – although mind you part of this goes back to their
refusal to believe the women who were sent.
So Jesus comes among them and opens their mind to the truth. Jesus makes sure that they do not miss out on
what God is doing because of a lack of preparedness. He comes among them and does what He has to
do. He shows them His wounds. He eats a piece of fish. He talks to them and teaches them. And their minds are opened.
This is the glory of the
resurrection. First, Jesus was indeed
raised. Death is not the victor. Second, God wants us to be a part of the telling
of that story. He doesn’t want us to
miss out. He wants us to
participate. We must do our part to try
and keep up with God – even when He has to come and make it really plain to us.
Ascension
Then Jesus ascends. I’m also struck by how anticlimactic this
story is. He’s alive … and gone! Jesus doesn’t stick around very long after He
is raised from the dead. But there is a
message even in this. What is God’s
point? Jesus isn’t going to do the
disciples’ work for them. They are
called and God has equipped them. Now
they need to quit clinging to Jesus and start taking the risen Lord out into
the world.
Again, is it any different with
us? Do we go out into the world as often
as we should? Do we get to what God
wants us to be doing as often as we should?
I know I don’t.
He is risen! Now go, and don’t keep it to yourself!
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