Eastertide - doubt
Readings for this week April 17 – 21
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings
Day 1 – Hard to Believe
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 24:36-37
Can you imagine the scene as the few remaining followers of Jesus excitedly talk about what they have seen and heard throughout the day now ending? The women who went to the body-less tomb; Peter’s visit to the empty tomb, and then a personal appearance of the risen Jesus to Peter (off-screen, as it were); the story from the road to Emmaus – the excitement and bewilderment in the room would have been palpable. And then Jesus himself appears in the midst of them. “Peace be with you.” That they reacted with noticeable jumpiness and fear suggests they weren’t quite ready to hear that yet. Even with all they had already experienced, and the conversations some of them had had with Jesus, they still couldn’t quite believe he was really there. That he was a ghost or a spirit seemed a more reasonable explanation. Full bodily resurrection didn’t seem to be an option available to them.
Scepticism is not a modern invention, and scepticism over the resurrection of Jesus isn’t a creation of those who seek to deny his divinity. It originated with his followers, people who had been with him for a long period of time, and even now still couldn’t believe he was real. His resurrection was something his followers found hard to swallow. Further explanation would be needed in order for those first followers of Jesus to fully understand what was going on. Yes, Jesus is risen – but in isolation this statement doesn’t really tell us much. We need to see how this fits into the story in order to see what it all means.
Questions to Consider
Have you ever felt like the disciples do here? When? Why?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for staying with me, even in my doubt and unbelief: for those times when your limitless love holds me close. Please continue to strengthen and grow my faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – From Death to Life
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 24:38-43
The dead did not come back to life. This was common knowledge in the ancient world. Even Jewish belief in the resurrection (which not every Jew believed anyway) was mostly relegated to the final resurrection at the end of time, the moment of God’s return and his vindication of his people. But, as much as some may have been hoping for that, it wasn’t expected any time soon. Certainly not with the way the world was at the time. Hence the disciples amazement and fear at suddenly finding Jesus among them. No wonder he said to them “Peace be with you.”
Jesus was keen for his disciples to understand that he wasn’t a ghost or a spirit – his bodily resurrection was real, his physical body, though somehow slightly different than before, was a real physical body. To demonstrate this he not only offered them the chance to examine his wounds and touch his body to see it was real, when they still didn’t believe him, he went one step further and showed them a bodily process in action: he ate something. In many of Jesus’ resurrection appearances across the gospels, he eats with the disciples. The simple most basic requirement of our existence – food and drink – Jesus used as a sign of the reality of his resurrection. A new reality was demonstrated around the table, a new fellowship – the community of believers in the resurrected Jesus – was formed.
Questions to Consider
How is the resurrection of Jesus a reality for you? How has it changed the way you see things?
Prayer
Almighty God, thank you for life, and life eternal. Thank you for your enduring love, even beyond death and into the unknown. Thank you for the promise of eternal life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – As It Was Written
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 24:44
It wasn’t just a party, a happy reunion. There were things the disciples needed to be told. Jesus begins by saying that everything has happened just the way he said it would, even if his disciples weren’t able to understand at the time. It is important for the disciples (and us) to understand the way in which what has happened to Jesus is an integral part of God’s plan for his people and his world. Jesus was not trying to piece together some kind of grand narrative out of the extraordinary events of his recent history. Those extraordinary events were the fulfilment of all that God has previously revealed to his people.
This links right back to the very beginning of Luke’s gospel, where he states his aim in writing to Theophilus. Luke says that “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.” Luke’s gospel has been written with this in mind. And here at the end he has Jesus himself explaining to the “eyewitnesses and servants of the word” that everything that has happened has been in fulfilment of what has been written about him in the “Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” All those reading the gospel will know that Jesus himself showed his followers how scripture had been fulfilled – and they in turn passed it on to those who followed. And those who will follow.
Question to Consider
Why do you think the disciples never quite understood or believed what Jesus had previously said about what would happen to him?
Prayer
Father God, thank you that by your Spirit you reveal yourself to us anew, and guide and inspire us in all we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – Not a Mistake at All
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 24:45-48
One of the things Jesus wanted his disciples to understand was that the crucifixion was not some horrible mistake, or some sort of obstacle that needed to be overcome. Jesus wasn’t trying to make the best of a bad situation, or explain away an unpleasant event that everyone would prefer had never happened. His crucifixion and death were a necessary part of God’s redemptive plan for his creation, and he wanted to reassure his followers of that. Only through his death and resurrection are our sins washed away. Only now that this has happened can the disciples share the good news that repentance and the forgiveness of sins have come through the crucified and risen Christ.
Hence his description of the disciples as ‘witnesses’: Not only had they witnessed the events surrounding Jesus and his words and actions, but they were witnesses to Jesus’ desire that they spread the good news about all that they have seen. The use of the word ‘witness’ shows that a major part of what Jesus expects of those who have seen and heard what God has done in and through Jesus is to carry that news to others. Luke’s use of the word witness here will be echoed numerous times throughout the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the sequel to this gospel, where the task of carrying the good news to the rest of the world will begin.
Questions to Consider
What difference is there between viewing the crucifixion as a mistake in need of explanation and seeing it as a necessary part of God’s plan? How does our view change our response to it?
Prayer
Loving Father, help me be a better witness, a better ‘proclaimer’ and ‘explainer’ of who you are and what you have lovingly done for your creation. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – In the End, Another Beginning
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Luke 24:49-53
The conclusion of the gospel of Luke isn’t really an ending at all – it’s a beginning, and not just because we know that Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles to follow on from this. At the close of the gospel the earthly ministry of Jesus is over; the focus now moves from what he did while incarnate among us to what his spirit-filled people will do in obedience to the task Jesus has laid upon them. The story will continue with the people of God taking the message of Jesus to the entire world.
However, this work is not work that they (and we) could do unless they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, power “from on high”. The spirit that was at work in Jesus is the same spirit he now promises to his followers to continue the work he started, just as we saw in our “Naturally Supernatural” series. We do not see the coming of the Holy Spirit here; that is something that Luke saves until the book of Acts. But we do see the promise. The ending Luke gives us is entirely in keeping with the whole thrust of his gospel. Jesus came to offer hope and life to all. Right from the start of the gospel Luke has highlighted time and again the fact that Jesus brings God’s blessing, and fulfils God’s promise to his people and to the world. The words of blessing and worship that Luke offers at the end are entirely appropriate to his theme of the promise of hope and blessing that has come to us, and the world, through Jesus.
Question to Consider
What differences do you see in the end of Luke’s gospel and the beginning of the book of Acts? Why do you think Luke has done this?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your son. Thank you for the sacrifice of the cross, the resurrection of your son, and the new life in the Spirit that flows from this. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)