There are only three post-resurrection stories in Luke’s
gospel. One is the story in today’s gospel about the appearance of Jesus to the
disciples in the Upper Room. Another
story is about Mary Magdalene going to the tomb and finding it empty (Lk
24:1-10), while the third is about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus )Lk
24:13-35). Luke then concludes his
gospel with a brief description of the ascension. That’s it—the end of Luke’s gospel. Few though they are, these three stories are
powerful tales that center on the theme of finding Jesus in unexpected places
and in unexpected ways.
In the story of Mary Magdalene and her companions, they go
to the tomb with sadness and confusion.
What they expect to find is a tomb with the corpse of Jesus still
inside. What they find instead is an
empty tomb and two messengers who wait on their arrival to deliver a surprising
message. The message is that Jesus is
not among the dead. Jesus is among the
living, he has been raised, and is on his way to Galilee, as he had foretold
while he was with them.
News about a dead man walking surely ought to have made the
women more fearful and confused.
Instead, the very opposite happens—the unexpected. They are no longer confused and afraid. Indeed, they come away believing in the
resurrection of Jesus. And, their belief
motivates them to hurry back and share their good news with the other
disciples. Mary and her companions fully
expect the disciples to believe their report about the resurrection.
Much to their surprise and disappointment, however, the
disciples do not believe their story. In
fact, the disciples are so incredulous that their immediate response is to run
to the tomb to check it out for themselves.
Apparently, they do not expect to find an empty tomb, they do not expect
to come away amazed, and they do not expect to discover that Mary and her
companions had told them the truth. But,
this is exactly what happens.
In the story about the two disciples on their way to Emmaus,
they too are like the women who went to the tomb. These two disciples also begin their journey
in sadness and confusion. Jesus was not
what they had expected him to be in life, the great warrior who would restore
Israel to its rightful place among nations.
Rather, Jesus has been dealt a cruel blow by the leaders of his religion,
while the enemy of Israel remains firmly in place. The Emmaus travelers are confused over this
outcome, and the earlier report of the women that Jesus is alive only adds to
their confusion. They do not believe
that report because they did not expect Jesus to rise to life on the third day
as he had foretold.
And here they are, explaining all this to a complete
stranger who joins them on their walk uninvited, and whom they expect to have
already heard the news about Jesus. They
had been pouring out their hearts, trying to teach the stranger about
Jesus. What they did not expect was to
have been taught so much by the stranger.
Much less did they expect the stranger to be Jesus himself. They discover his identity at the breaking of
bread during a meal they thought of as very ordinary. When they least expect it, they discover that
all along they had been talking with the risen Jesus himself. Quite
surprisingly, at the point of revealing his identity to the two travelers,
Jesus vanishes. Perhaps Jesus wants to
make it clear that we can no longer expect to find him in ordinary ways. From now on, we encounter Jesus in and
through the unexpected person, place or circumstance.
This revelation during the breaking of bread inspires the
two disciples to return to the others who are gathered in the Upper Room in
Jerusalem. What happens there is the
third post-resurrection story found in Luke.
While the disciples gathered in the Upper Room are talking with one
another about these things, Jesus unexpectedly appears to them. Their reaction to his appearance is not what
we would expect. Their conversation would suggest that they would be overjoyed
at this sudden appearance of Jesus. Instead, the disciples become anxious and
terrified. They think they see a ghost.
To allay their fears and prove that he is no ghost, Jesus
eats some fish in front of them and invites them to touch his flesh and
bone. This is an unexpected turn of
events. Surely the risen Jesus has no need
of food and no need to prove he is back in the flesh. And yet, proof is precisely what he offers
the disciples. Jesus is sensitive to
their need for assurance and does not hesitate to provide it.
The main characters in these stories remind us of
ourselves. They expected Jesus to be one
place and to appear in a certain way, while he shows up in some other place and
in an unexpected way. Like the women who
go to the tomb, at times we too begin in sadness and confusion. We don’t understand certain things. We go some place expecting to find Jesus
there, and encounter only his messengers.
Sometimes, we are like the two traveling to Emmaus. Jesus often travels
with us, but we are not aware of his presence because he comes to us in
disguise. We see only the stranger; the friend; the healer; the victim; the
vulnerable; the teacher; the pastor; the bread and wine—but we do not see
Jesus. We do not see Jesus in others or
in ourselves because we do not expect to see Jesus. At other times, we are like the disciples in
the Upper Room. We are confident in our
faith until something out of the ordinary happens. Then, we become afraid and doubtful. We may even try to hide from Jesus.
But, Jesus is the unexpected seeker. Jesus does not wait for us to find him. He comes looking for us. He comes to us in the ordinary circumstances
of our lives. He comes to us on his
terms—not ours. Jesus is Emmanuel, God
with us. He came to show us the Father
and to show us the way to the Father. He
did this in unexpected places, in unexpected ways and with unexpected people.
These
post-resurrection stories reveal this simple message. God loves us; God is with us. And after a while, we may actually EXPECT God
to be with us.
