When the two [disciples] recounted what had taken place on the way and how [Jesus] was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were still speaking about this, He stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, He asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave Him a piece of baked fish; He took it and ate it in front of them. 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 and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And He said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

When Jesus' resurrection took place, there were all kinds of excitement. Consider, for example, the two disciples who experienced the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus. When with the disciples in Jerusalem they finally got their turn to explain Jesus’ appearance to them, Jesus came and showed His glorified body. All in the room reacted just as we would: They were in a panic. Their historical age was no more disposed to believe in miracles than ours.

Even when the Jerusalem disciples began to come around, they were still incredulous – but for joy (v. 41). It was simply too good to be true! So Jesus had them touch Him and see the marks of the nails in His hands and feet (v. 39), to show that He was the same person who had died and risen. He then ate in their presence – not to show that He was restored to the normal life of growth and decline, but to prove that He was no ghost, or phantom, or figment of anyone’s imagination.

Now, Jesus was enjoining His disciples to preach the Gospel to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (v. 47). Jerusalem was the capital city of the old theocracy, the site of the Temple of God, the religious center of the Jewish people, the place from which the prophets had foretold would issue the glad tidings of the new dispensation. The entire Gospel of Luke told of the whole of Jesus’ ministry as a journey to that holy city. Now at the end of Luke’s Gospel, the word of God was to go from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

SOURCE: "366 Days with the Lord," ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.