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
Contemporaries of Jesus and the disciples regularly conceived of the scriptures as composed of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (or Writings). On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John glimpsed Jesus talking with Moses (receiver of the Law) and Elijah (the great Prophet) about Jesus and his coming death in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). Here in a scene unique to the Gospel of Luke the Risen Jesus encourages and commissions his disciples with the assertion that in his death and resurrection he is indeed the fulfillment of all the promises of the scriptures—in all the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.
This is a grand and compelling assertion:
The Risen Jesus will fulfill the expectations and requirements of the Law.
The Risen Jesus will unveil and live into God’s plans and dreams for how God’s people ought to be and live.
The Risen Jesus as fully human will invite us to live into the fullness of human life with all its emotions and pathos and promise.
Prayer
Thank you, Jesus, for fulfilling all the promises of the scriptures, in Law, and Prophets, and Psalms. Amen.