Luke 24:36b-48 (NRSV)
Read Luke 24:36b-48 on biblegateway.com
Verse 36While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." Verse 37They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Verse 38He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Verse 39Look 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." Verse 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Verse 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" Verse 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, Verse 43and he took it and ate in their presence. Verse 44Then 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." Verse 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, Verse 46and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, Verse 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Verse 48You are witnesses of these things.
Devotion
Two of Jesus’ followers have returned to Jerusalem to tell the disciples about seeing Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They tell about not recognizing Jesus until he broke bread with them. In the previous passage, the disciples reassure the two from Emmaus that Jesus has risen and appeared to Peter. In this passage, Jesus suddenly appears and it is the disciples themselves who are in need of reassurance.
Have you ever thought you “knew” Christ and then he appears to you in a whole new way? These are the “aha” moments in our lives that allow us to grow in Christ in ways we never dreamed. Scary and new, rest assured it is Christ continuing to change us in a whole new way.
Prayer
Transforming Lord, open our eyes to all the ways you appear to us as we grow in you in each day at work, in our families, and in our social context.
Amen.