Witnesses of the Resurrection: You are Witnesses

You are witnesses

Intro

Last chapter of Luke and the beginning of Acts

Encountering the Risen Jesus.

Living in light of the resurrection

According to Luke, Luke 24:1-12 - the women go to the Tomb, encounter the angels, but not yet the Risen Jesus. Run to tell the Eleven & the others and Peter runs to see for himself.

So, in Luke, the first people to interact with the Risen Jesus are the Emmaus Road disciples. This is the text we read a couple of weeks ago.

But by the time these two get back to Jerusalem, the Eleven are discussing Peter’s encounter as well.

Our text today, isn’t separate from that text…

a side note about chapters verses and headings… NOT part of the original texts!

So…I want you to imagine a page of text…

Reading

Luke 24:36–49 NRSVue

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

THANKS BE TO GOD.

Too good to be true.

Have you ever had something happen to you that just seems too good to be true? Something that is so surprising, so unexpected, that it takes a bit to wrap your mind and heart around? And now, imagine that too good to be true thing coming directly on the heels of “the worst thing ever”… and you have what the disciples were likely experiencing.

I love how the text describes the followers of Jesus in this text:

Luke 24:41 NRSVue

41 Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”

How are they feeling? Full of joy, full of questions & wondering, finding it hard to believe… and that’s after Jesus has shown up in their midst. After He has spoken peace to them. Over them. Into them. After He has shown them his hands and his feet.

I also love how Jesus just shows up… now he interrupts… how he disrupts. How He confirms what some of them have heard and are trying to tell the others.

“Jesus interrupts conversation at a gathering of his followers and ushers them, one more time, from fear and doubt toward confident, perceptive faith, informed by a rereading of recent events in the light of Scripture and of Scripture in light of recent events, and previewing their future role.” T. Carroll

And, for the second time in as many post-resurrection appearances, Jesus opens the Scriptures… rereads them. Carroll rightly points out that Jesus rereads recent events in light of the Scriptures and Scripture in light of recent events. This is why we keep ourselves grounded in the Scriptures, continually reading and rereading. Tracing the story of Scripture, but also how its arc intersects with our own lives and how our lives and all their twists & turns cause us to notice things in the Scripture that we had missed before. Or to read through different lenses in light our our personal or global recent events much like the disciples are doing with Jesus.

As we look at our text for this morning, we see Jesus offering and calling. Jesus offers peace & presence. And Jesus calls them to witness & wait.

Peace & Presence

Jesus offers His peace & presence

Unlike the storm that Jesus calmed with just a word, the storm of the disciples’ confusion & fear doesn’t immediately quiet. But Jesus offers His presence nonetheless.

If you were following along on Thursday, you might have seen the white smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel, signalling to the world that a new pope had been chosen. After awhile, Pope Leo XIV came out onto the balcony and spoke to a waiting world… his first words? Well, they should sound familiar…

“Peace be with you all!

Dear brothers and sisters, these are the first words spoken by the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for God’s flock.   I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world.  

Peace be with you!” Pope Leo XIV

After speaking peace to them, He shows them his hands & feet. And then, while they’re still sorting themselves out (“yet for all their joy, they were still disbelieving and wondering”) Jesus asks for a snack.

There are at least two ways of reading this… one is that he wants to offer proof that He is no figment of their collective imaginations. That He is no ghost, no zombie. “Watch me eat this, friends.”

But the other, is that Jesus is hungry. That walk to Emmaus did end with a meal, but now Jesus needs a little more sustenance. Because even the resurrected Jesus is still human.

In all of this, what is certain, is that Jesus offers his followers peace even in their disbelief and confusion. And Jesus offers His presence. He is WITH THEM.

Witness & Wait

Then, we see Jesus call them to witness & wait.

Much like did with Cleopas & his companion at Emmaus, Jesus now opens the Scriptures once again. Shows them what is there, what had always been there, but what they couldn’t yet see. He reminds them of what he has already taught.

Luke 24:44–48 NRSVue

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

And then tells them that they are witnesses these things. He’s giving them a new identity. They are witnesses.

What is Jesus calling them to witness?

This is where the past (teaching) and the future (sent ones) meets in the present.

Beginning from Jerusalem, there will be a ripple effect … a ripple of repentance and forgiveness of sins, proclaimed in the name of the Messiah to the whole world.

These confused, disbelieving and yet joy-filled disciples are about to participate in something that they cannot quite grasp.

What do they know for sure?

Jesus is with them. (presence)

Jesus is speaking peace to them even in all their questions and uncertainties.

Jesus is calling them witnesses. (Not calling them to try to be witnesses. He is naming that they ARE witnesses of the resurrected Messiah. Witnesses of the mission of God to draw all people into the Divine life.

And Jesus finally tells them to wait.

Luke 24:49 NRSVue

49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

So what about us? What can we take from this text and read into our lives? How can we reread this story in light of our recent events and reread our recent events in light of this text?

Jesus is with us. (presence)

Because of the Holy Spirit, we, too, can know the presence of the risen Jesus.

Jesus speaks peace to us.

When we’re listening for the voice of Jesus, it is His peace that will distinguish His voice and message from all the noise.)

Jesus calls us to be witnesses to the message that is meant to be shared with the whole world… a message about turning our hearts and lives towards the One who joyfully offers forgiveness.

(Clearly, they witnessed it… or we wouldn’t be here!)

Jesus knows we can’t do this on our own. So we must wait for the Spirit.

(They had to wait for Pentecost. We must learn what it means to walk in the Spirit - spoiler: Galatians series coming soon!)

Closing Prayer

please stand… to let team have a cue

Lord of Dawn and Darkness, how grateful we are for your loving mercies.

You saw our fear and doubt, our suspicion, our mistrust, and you banished them from our lives, replacing them with hope, peace, love, and joy.

You called us to be your witnesses, to all the world, unafraid of what others might think or say about us.

We have been invited out of our darkened hideaways, into the light of your world as emissaries of hope and justice, peace and compassion.

Be with us, as we participate in ministries of healing and hope through this church, in our community, region, nation, and world.

Give us courage and strength to be your disciples in all the circumstances of our lives; for we ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

song: Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God…