The Body of Jesus

I hope I didn’t promise that we would finish Luke this Sunday… because we’re not.

Introduction

So this Tuesday is Halloween. And I would argue that the text that we are looking at today hits on some really important halloween themes.

For many people the first thing that they think of when they think of Halloween is… full moons, horror movies, goblins, ghouls, ghosts, zombies…

Even in Globe, we had a ghost tour this weekend. We often associate Halloween with the undead or the living dead. And yet two parts of this text

But Jesus wasn’t a zombie. Zombies by definition walk about in a corpselike stupor, or drug induced trance like state. Clearly, the way that we see Jesus risen from the dead is different than that.

Jesus wasn’t a ghost. He shows in this text that he is not merely a ghost or a Spirit. Spirits don’t have flesh. However, that’s not the only aspect in which this text intersects with Halloween… or maybe I should say Allhallowtide…

But traditionally, Halloween was a religious Holiday. And if you think to any movie that you might have seen that involved halloween they always prefer the name All Hallows Eve and say it ReAlLy SpOoKy. If you consider All Saints Day - and are reminded that Hallow and Saint mean the same thing. Thus Halloween, or All Hallows Eve was the night before All Saints Day. Thus Allhallowtide includes Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day date back to about the 4th century.

Yet every year around this season we start to hear things like Halloween is Pagan, and it originally started as Samhain, or Saturnalia, or that it’s Satan’s birthday. We’ve all heard it in some way or another right?

And it’s not just from atheists. Christians have perpetuated this too. Are any of you familiar with Jack Chick? or Chick Tracts? Well there are/were Chick Tracts that attempted to convert people by speaking of the evils of Halloween.

Ultimately, the original goal of the feast was to remember the dead. All Saints Day is a day, initially designed to be set aside to remember those who have passed in the Lord. The same with All Soul’s Day. They often became days to visit cemeteries and remember the dead. Connected to that though is that the historically preferred method of handling remains for Christians has been burial - this is because when you see a cemetery you are reminded of death - you are reminded that from dust you came to dust you shall return… but you are also reminded that one day when the Lord returns the dead will be raised. So halloween serves to remind us of the dead, and of the resurrection. In Christ, we believe that the dead are raised to life, he is the firstfruits from the dead, and we also believe and confess that he will return to raise the dead. But Jesus could only redeem humanity if he himself was indeed human. The 4th Century Bishop and Theologian Gregory of Nazianzus concerning the body of Jesus stated “What is not assumed, is not redeemed.” Meaning if Jesus did not take on human flesh - he did not redeem human flesh… however, what we are dealing with today is not whether Jesus took on flesh, but whether he had a physical resurrection. And I would add that for Jesus’ resurrection to be a true resurrection he had to raise in the flesh.

What we see in this text is that the disciples see three proofs for the physical resurrection of the body of Jesus. They saw the risen Body, the touched the risen body, the fed the risen body.

They Saw

As we read the text in Luke we read that as they are speaking and suddenly Jesus himself stood among them. Now at first glance there may not be anything unusual about this statement. However, in John 20:19 we read that the doors were locked. So this leads us to an important question… which explains the disciples response in 24:37…

How does Jesus get inside if the doors are locked… the easy answer of course is that Jesus is God. And on the one hand if we can believe that Jesus rose from the dead, we shouldn’t really be tripped up by the idea that Jesus can get passed a locked door. But even so there are a few possible explanations. One the one hand, we don’t get an answer though I have heard many…

Could Jesus have teleported before the disciples in the room? Yes. Is there any issue with this? Maybe. If Jesus is truly man - do men teleport? Does this create an issue with Jesus’ humanity? Potentially.

Maybe Jesus just walked through the door? Also possible. But we all know that if I try to walk through that door right there I will either bust the door frame and fall down the stairs or the door frame will bust me - but either way Jim is finishing the sermon.

Even some theologians have suggested that maybe Jesus simply walked in the room unnoticed. Which again is possible. Jesus prevented his disciples from recognizing him on the road to Emmaus - could he have also prevented them from noticing him unlock and enter the door? Certainly.

I heard one pastor offer the response that in this moment, in the reality of the life, and in the reality of the resurrection that Jesus passed through the door as Jesus is more real that the door is. The resurrection, glorified body of Jesus will never pass away… that door is fading, withering, and one will day no longer be there… Jesus will never pass away again.

We could speculate on the answer for this all day long… but we probably shouldn’t… however, I wanted to draw this out to say that this isn’t a big issue as some want to make it… if Jesus has literally and physically risen from the dead… if the tomb with a massive stone rolled in front of it didn’t stop him, a locked door wasn’t going to stop him either.

There is a mystery to how this plays out. But let us not allow our questions and speculations about what we do not know about the text to negate that which is clearly in front of us.

We ultimately, cannot really answers how Jesus got in the room, because neither Luke nor John tell us… because they probably didn’t know either. And the disciples not knowing is part of the key here.

See how the disciples respond… they think Jesus is a ghost, again, the door was locked, but Jesus in this text shows very clearly that he is not a ghost. But also this isn’t the first time that the disciples confuse Jesus for being a ghost. Mark 6:47–50 “And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.””

So when Jesus is walking on the water in Mark 6, they see Jesus think he is a ghost and they are terrified. Sound familiar? Same thing happens here in this text.

What’s interesting is that the disciples seem to have some sort of belief in ghosts… and while i wont comment much further on that - if you want to know I think ghosts are… lies, hallucinations, misunderstandings or demons. I’ll have another word about that later.

Jesus obviously was not a ghost walking on the water, and he was not a ghost here either. They see the risen Lord and they are shocked - they do not know what to do, or think… they have seen the risen Lord but what’s next…

They Touched

They think they see a spirit… and Jesus immediately proves that he is not merely a spirit.

Jesus shows them his hands and feet for two reasons...

Who he is… it is Jesus of Nazareth…

What he is… this is a physical bodily resurrection…

He starts with a question though… “why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

And some of these doubts are certainly related to the idea of “Is this really happening?” “How did he get in here?” Skipping ahead to verse 41 for one moment… “They disbelieved for joy.” The idea of the risen Lord standing before them at the moment seemed far too wonderful from them to believe it was happening.

And yet what Jesus does is prove that he is really there. Jesus shows them his hands and feet. In John 20:20 we read that Jesus showed the disciple his hands and his side. Jesus is showing them not merely his skin or his body, but specifically he is showing them his scars. He is showing them wounds left from the nails that held him to the cross and the wound from the spear that pierced his side. So Jesus as an identifying marker of who he is shows them the scars on his hands and the scars on his feet as evidence of who he is.

The way that John presents this account Thomas is missing from this encounter and in John 20:25 Thomas tells the the the other disciples, “ “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

And what does the Lord do? He shows Thomas his hands and tells him to put his finger in them, and shows him his side and tells him to place his hand in the wound where the spear pierced his side.

The body that was hung on the cross is the same body that rose from the grave. And the risen body of the Lord bears the marks of our redemption.

This might lead to the question… well if Jesus’ resurrected body still bears the scars of his death… and if we will be like him as 1 John 3:2, and Philippians 3:20-21 tell us will our resurrected bodies also bear the scars we endured in this life? And the answer is no. Jesus does not seemingly bare the marks of the scourging prior to his crucifixion. He doesn’t show the disciples his back. Isaiah (Is. 52:14) prophesied that Jesus would be marred to the extent that he would be recognized as a human…

But these scars of Jesus remain and seemingly for 4 reasons…

Jesus bears those scars in part as identification.

They are the marks of an invitation… they only reason that we have any access to redemption is through the invitation that is found in his death Jesus’ scars mark the evidence of our redemption.

They are the marks of a king.

Christ is coming to judge the world and they will look upon the wounds of the one they pierced. I have three verses for you to look at for that.

John 19:37 ESV

And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Zechariah 12:10 ESV

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Revelation 1:7 ESV

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

The disciples look upon the man that is in front of them and from his scars know that it is Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, died and buried just a few days ago… and now he is standing in front of living living and breathing. All humanity will at the final judgment looked at the scars of the one who was pierced. They will either looked at the as the marks of a saving king, or the marks of a holy judge. Jesus’ scars are not the marks of defeat but of triumph.

Though Jesus first shows them his scars as the mark of identification he goes a little further to demonstrate not only that it is him Jesus of Nazareth… but also that he isn’t a spirit, or a ghost or an illusion.

Jesus tells them to touch him to feel his flesh and bones… a spirit does not have flesh and bones. The risen body of the Lord Jesus is a physical body with flesh and bones.

They Fed

And yet in the third demonstration of Jesus’ resurrection being a physical resurrection, while they are still marveling and they disbelieving for joy… he asks them “You got any food?”

Was he hungry? The text doesn’t say but he was dead for three days so I would think so…

But what is more important here is that

Jesus had teeth. He was able to eat. He was able to consume and digest. This is also the second reference to Jesus and food in this chapter. The previous one was when he breaks bread before the disciples in Emmaus. Jesus does not eat in the first interaction, but vanishes before he eats, yet here Jesus does eat the fish. Luke even gives us the detail of how they cooked it. And he ate it before them. They watched him eat.

Spirits do not eat.

This might be off topic but I think, alongside Jesus having declared all foods clean gives us hope that we will be able to eat pulled pork in heaven.

Acts 1:3 ESV

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Jesus provided them with many proofs of his resurrection… they saw him, they touched him, they fed him.

Why does it matter that we believe in a physical resurrection?

One of the markers of a false spirit and of a false prophet is that they do not confess that Jesus rose in the flesh. This works out in a few different ways.

There’s a first century heresy called docetism. It comes from the word δοκεω meaning to appear. It was the believe that Jesus was not truly a man but merely appeared to be a man.

Jehovah’s denial a physical resurrection of Jesus. They say that he didn’t physically rise from the dead but had a spiritual resurrection and at times appeared to have body, or temporarily had took on flesh.

Muslims also deny that Jesus rose in the flesh. They will say that Jesus did not have a risen body

But if Jesus didn’t rise form the dead in the flesh then he didn’t conquer death. And if Jesus didn’t physically rise from the dead we wont either.

The disciples regularly pointed back to the having seen and touched… 1 John 1:1-3

1 John 1:1–3 ESV

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

They saw, they touched, they fed.

But there is another emphasis that John makes in his letters. He presses in to his experience. Him being an eyewitness, and

1 John 4:2–3 ESV

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

2 John 7 ESV

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Part of what John is addressing here is docetism. However, from what we see in this text in Luke today, and what we read here in 1 John and 2 John we have to connect it all. Jesus has come in the flesh. Jesus died in the flesh. Jesus rose in the flesh.

It matter because Jesus it’s orthodox… apostle’s creed…

It matters because a we shall be like him. The bodily resurrection teaches us about our resurrection in eternity.

And a non-physical resurrection is like a sunless sunrise… (Randy Alcorn). The very definition of resurrection means that we will have bodies.

Because Jesus has risen from the dead, we will too.

And when we rise we will be like he is.

Conclusion

The first thing that Jesus says to his disciples as he appears to them in this text is “Peace to you.” While there certainly is a sense that this is just merely a common greeting, consider what Paul writes in all of his letters “grace and peace”. Also consider that the word Shalom means peace and that was a simple greeting. However, I think there is more to this that that. Jesus in his death and resurrection has brought peace. (Isaiah 53:5)

Ephesians 2:14 ESV

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

Lamb who was slain…