THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
April 30th
Jonathan Slater
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Although Easter was two weeks ago, today’s scripture reading invites us back to Easter, to the acclamation that Christ is Risen. It is also a text that raises the question of what we mean when we say Christ is Risen: In what sense is Jesus of Nazareth risen? What does it mean for us to proclaim that Christ is risen indeed?
I suspect that there are various opinions among us this morning concerning the Resurrection of Jesus as a statement of faith, as an historical event. And I very much doubt that what I have to say this morning will remove these differences of opinion. But I do hope to draw us into Luke’s telling of the story of the resurrected Jesus, and perhaps to consider anew what Luke proclaimed concerning the resurrected Christ, and what it might mean to believe his testimony.
The Road to Emmaus:
First some context for today’s text. Jesus’ appearance to the disciples is the third of three episodes in the final chapter of Luke; following immediately what is probably the most well known of these, the story of the road to Emmaus
It is Easter Sunday. Cleopas and his companion, perhaps his wife, had heard that Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women had discovered the empty tomb. This was confirmed by Peter. But, having dismissed the women’s story of Angels announcing that Jesus had risen from the grave, Cleopas and a companion were leaving Jerusalem full of sadness. They had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel-perhaps they had come to Jerusalem with Jesus on Palm Sunday, shouting Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes in the Name of the Lord. But things did not turn out as they had expected. Rather than bringing about Israel’s redemption, Jesus was tortured and crucified-a shameful and violent death that decisively proved that he was not, in fact, the Messiah.
As they travel the seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus, they meet a stranger. This stranger has not heard about what has occurred in Jerusalem, about the crucifixion of Jesus. However, as Cleopas and his companion tell the story, the stranger declares that this was exactly what Cleopas and his companion should have expected. Far from proving that Jesus was not the Messiah, his suffering and death were necessary in order that Scripture be fulfilled:
“How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26)
Luke does not tell us how Cleopas and his companion respond to the stranger’s exclamation, but having reached Emmaus late in the day, they invite the stranger to stay the night. As they sit down to eat together, the stranger “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” (Luke 24: 30) And as he did this, Cleopas and his companion realize that this was, in fact, Jesus. Jesus had been with them as they travelled along the road, Jesus himself had interpreted the Scriptures to them, but their “eyes were kept from recognizing him” until the breaking of the bread. But, just as they came to recognize him, Luke tells us that Jesus vanished from their sight.
The Metaphoric and the Literal:
There have long been two main perspectives on the story of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus, The literal and the metaphoric or symbolic.
The metaphoric or symbolic view may be summarized by saying: “Emmaus never happened: Emmaus always happens.” (John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography [San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1994], p. 197)
Emmaus never happened. The resurrection is not an historical fact, an historical event, but is instead an invisible reality. Jesus was alive on that first Easter Sunday, but not in the sense that you might actually bump into him as you walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Rather, those who had experienced the power of the Kingdom that Jesus made manifest continued to be empowered by that experience and came to recognize that in a spiritual sense, Jesus was still with them, even though he was literally dead. Cleopas and his companion really did have such an experience as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus. But as a story of two travellers literally meeting another traveller who turns out to be Jesus of Nazareth, Emmaus never happened.
But Emmaus always happens Just as Cleopas and his companion experienced resurrection faith, so the hearts and minds of believers continue to be strengthened by their own experience of resurrection faith. Emmaus always happens.
On the other hand, the literal view may be summarized by saying: Emmaus happened. And Emmaus will never happen again.
Emmaus happened. The resurrection is an historical event. The story of the road to Emmaus is not a myth embodying a spiritual truth about the power of faith in Jesus, nor is it a story about two people who had been so inspired by Jesus that they saw a vision of Jesus. Rather, it is the story of two people meeting a third person on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus. Cleopas and his companion really did meet a stranger who walked with them, who interpreted the Scriptures to them, and broke bread in their home, only to then realize that this stranger was in fact Jesus of Nazareth; the same Jesus who had been crucified just three days before. Immediately upon recognizing him, Jesus mysteriously disappears, leaving broken bread on the table that neither Cleopas nor his companion had broken. Emmaus happened.
And Emmaus will never happen again. Yes, we continue to experience resurrection in various ways, but we do not experience the kind of concrete encounter with the risen Christ that Cleopas and his companion experienced. While “partial analogies occur every time hearts burn at biblical exposition, and recognizing faith is kindled over broken bread”, Christ was present bodily on the road to Emmaus in a way that he is not present now. (N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003], p. 658) “Emmaus will never happen again.”
As I mentioned earlier, I do not intend to discuss the various arguments and evidence for and against these two perspectives on the story of the road to Emmaus (Those who wish to follow this up might look at Robert B. Stewart, ed. The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006]). However, I think today’s scripture makes it clear which side of the debate the author of the Gospel of Luke would be on: Luke’s story of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples invites us to interpret the story of the road to Emmaus literally; to believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Appearance to the Disciples:
Today’s scripture begins with the disciples discussing Jesus’ appearances. Cleopas and his companion have just made the trip back from Emmaus to Jerusalem to tell their story of having met Jesus, only to find the disciples saying: “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34) It is as the disciples were talking about these things that “Jesus himself stood among them.” (Luke 24:36)
The odd thing about Luke’s story here is not that Jesus came and stood among them: Having disappeared from the dinner table of Cleopas and his companion, why should he not re-appear among the disciples as they rejoiced in the news of these appearances.
No, the odd thing is how the disciples react. They were full of resurrection faith: And yet, when Jesus stood among them, their reaction was not one of joy, but of fear. They were proclaiming, “Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed”, and yet when Jesus actually showed up, they were terrified. Why?
I was talking to my cousin about this the other day, and he suggested that perhaps there is a difference between believing that someone rose again, and actually having a person who you saw die show up in your living room. And I think there may be something to this; there may indeed be a difference between an affirmation of belief in the resurrection, and the presence of a resurrected person.
But Luke’s narrative leads us towards a different explanation: Rather than emphasizing their shock at Jesus’ presence among them, Luke suggests that the disciples were terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost, a spirit. They were not sure that it was in fact Jesus who had come among them. And to these doubting and fearful disciples, Jesus says:
“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.” (Luke 24:38-39
They were frightened and skeptical: Who, or What, has appeared among us? Is it really Jesus? Or is it someone-or something-else.
Jesus showed them his hands and his feet saying, “See that it is I myself”. He assures them of his identity, of Who He is: “I am none other than Jesus of Nazareth, I am the Jesus that you know and love; Whose entrance into Jerusalem you recently celebrated with shouts of Hosanna.” I am the one who you had hoped would redeem Israel, and who you saw tortured and crucified just three days ago.
But Jesus not only assured them of his identity, of Who He is, but also assured them What he is; “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” I am not something other than what I was before I was crucified and buried. I am not the spirit or ghost of Jesus of Nazareth-I am not a vision, an apparition, and certainly not just a feeling or idea-I am a concrete person; I have a body, I have flesh and bones. To these disciples, Jesus says: “Yes, I was crucified, dead, and buried. But now it is three days later and I have risen again-not merely in your hearts, but in my integrity as a human person, complete with a body, with flesh and bones.”
Hearing the words of Jesus, seeing his hands and feet, touching him, the disciples fear turns to joy. And yet, Luke tells us “in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” (Luke 24:41) Their fear has turned to joy. They are convinced that is in fact Jesus who is among them, and not someone else, but they are still disbelieving and wondering. Is he really present? Is he really as corporeally present as he appears to be? And so Jesus demonstrates his physicality, his corporeality, by eating a piece of broiled fish in their presence.
Luke does not tell us that this ultimately convinced the disciples. Perhaps some doubt remained. Believing in the bodily resurrection of Jesus was not easy. It is not easy. Questions remain. If he is flesh and bone, how did he simply disappear from Cleopas and his companions’ dinner table? How did he simply appear among them now? The bodily resurrection does not appear to be simply the resuscitation of a corpse. It appears to involve some kind of transformation of Jesus’ bodily existence.
Luke does not dwell on this, however; but continues his story. Now it is almost as if the order of the story of Emmaus is now reversed-On the road Jesus had explained scripture to Cleopas and his companion, but was not recognized until later, until he broke bread and subsequently disappeared. Here Jesus begins by establishing his identity. It is only after establishing his identity, only after they recognize who He is, that he reminds the disciples of what he had said about his death and resurrection; That he explains more fully that his suffering and death, and subsequent resurrection were necessary in order to fulf
ill what had been written in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms: Far from proving that he was not the Messiah, Jesus explains that his death and subsequent resurrection were necessary in order to establish that he was in fact the one who would redeem Israel. It is as Israel’s redeemer that he commissions them to be witnesses of his identity, and to proclaim the good news of repentance and forgiveness of sins “in his name to all nations.” (Luke 24: 47) Luke’s narrative moves in this direction- from recognition of identity to proclamation and worship.
The Resurrection of the Body:
Why does Jesus appear to the disciples? Why does he establish that it is really he? So that they would be proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations. That they would bear the news that although Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” Although Jesus died a violent and shameful death, God raised him up and thereby demonstrated that he was Son of God, the Messiah. The hope that surrounded Jesus proclamation of good news to the poor, release to the captives, recover of sight to the blind, the liberation of the oppressed, his proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favour, was not in vain.
But can one not believe this without believing in a literal resurrection, in a bodily resurrection? Why might it be important that the resurrected Jesus was corporeal, had flesh and bone?
Perhaps because the God who raised Jesus is the same God who created all things, including our bodies. Because the God who created us will also redeem us, including our bodies. Because our bodies are gifts of a good creator, rather than prisons to be liberated from, into a disembodied future.
And so the Apostles Creed proclaims:
“I believe in One God, the Creator of heaven and earth.” There are not two Gods, one who created heavenly and spiritual things, and another that created earthly and bodily things. There is one creator God.
“And I believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried… and who rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
“And I believe in the resurrection of the body.” Ultimately Jesus’ resurrection has implications for our own resurrection: As first John, one of the other lectionary texts for this Sunday, puts it: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
If Jesus Christ was not raised bodily, neither will our bodies be raised, for “we will be like him”. In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul emphasizes this point particularly clearly. He argues that if Christ was not raised from the dead, then neither will we be raised from the dead, and therefore our faith has been in vain (1 Corinthians 15:12-14). But, says Paul, Christ was actually raised from the dead. And Jesus resurrection is the beginning of THE resurrection of the dead. He is the first fruit, the first of many who will follow, a kind of preview of our own resurrection.
And for Paul, it is this hope in resurrection that enables us to be faithful, even in the face of death. Assuring his readers that Jesus victory is also our victory, Paul closes his extended discussion of the resurrection with an exhortation: “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.”(1 Corinthians 15:58) Though your commitment to the way of Christ may end in a shameful and violent death, know that it will not be in vain. We can still give thanks to God, knowing that God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ; because we are assured that Jesus victory is our victory, we are enabled to enact the kingdom of God as Jesus did.
We can rest in the assurance that the God who raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead will also raise us from the dead-not as spirits or ghosts, nor as ideas, but in our integrity of human persons, complete with flesh and bones.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!