Focal Passage: Luke 24:1-8, 38-43
The resurrection of Jesus is where all the facts, truth and revelation come together completing the mission, ministry and identity of God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. It is where all the prophecies about His Messiah are fulfilled, verified, and validated. It is where our hope becomes a reality.
Everything we believe, everything we preach, everything we hope for rests on the truth of the resurrection. The Apostle Paul makes that very clear in I Corinthians 15:12-19.
We start this study looking at the events just after the crucifixion. Luke starts where all the other synoptic gospels and John begin, with several women going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. It was the first day of the week, Sunday. Jesus had been crucified on the Friday before.
Several of the gospel writers do not give the exact time of death but Mark does in Mark 15:34. It was the ninth hour which places His death in the afternoon around 3 p.m. Not much time to secure permission of the body and make all the necessary funeral arrangements before sundown.
Therefore, that task was postponed till after the Sabbath.
Nimmo
The women were determined to do this early after the Sabbath. Why did they start so early? Perhaps they were told by Joseph of Arimathea that they did not have much time to do a proper preparation of the body. Another suggestion could be that it had been three days since Jesus’ death and therefore feared the body may begin to smell. We see this in John 11:39, when Martha objected because she was afraid Lazarus’ body might smell.
Whatever the reason, we see them hurry to get there. When they got to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. They went in but found no body. They were perplexed as to what had happened. Just then two angels appeared. Frightened they fell to the ground. The angels asked them what they were looking for. The angels then declared to them what had happened. They also reminded them of what Jesus had said. Then they remembered.
In the second part of the passage, Luke 24:38-43, Jesus appears to His disciples. All the disciples were together, still stunned over the events of the last few days. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in their midst. Judging from their reaction in verse 37, they were looking for the door. They thought they were seeing a ghost. This was definitely something they were not expecting. Jesus, seeing their fear, began to assure them that they were not seeing a ghost or a vision. He was real. They were still confused. They recognized who He was. They could see with their own eyes the proof, but they were still trying to reconcile this in their minds. They had seen Him die. But there He was, standing before them.
Never experiencing this before, they needed some help understanding it. Jesus reminded them of what He had said and then He opened their minds so they could understand. Sometimes things are hard for us to comprehend, to reconcile. Because of the resurrection, we now have the Holy Spirit to help us open our minds to understanding. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. B&R
