One thing Jesus alone can give you.

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/1e26d87a/one-thing-jesus-alone-can-give-you-luke-63

Far too soon, I ‘took down’ Easter in my home. Oh, I still have a hand-painted wooden cross suspended from a tree in my front yard, but other than that, everything is put away. As I was praying this morning, I think that was a mistake.

Come on now – we Christians have only one day of the year in which our minister says from the pulpit, ‘He is risen,’ and we respond with ‘He is risen indeed!’ And then what? Monday morning, we turn the page, and we are off to the next thing in our lives? No, let us press in to that beautiful time – this beautiful time ... let us stay a while with the newly-risen Lord.

I take you back again to a house in post-resurrection Jerusalem where the disciples were gathered. Perhaps they discussed what they were facing as the inner circle of the crucified Lord… Luke writes,

“And just as they were telling about it, (the two from the Emmaus road), Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.

Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must befulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 1

The looks on their faces told Jesus they doubted. His inner circle, the eleven disciples, could not bring themselves to believe that Jesus was truly alive, incredulous as that is to us now. [how arrogant we are – we who hold the entire canon of Scripture in our hands, knowing what comes after the resurrection because it was recorded. Those men did not have the Old Testament scriptures in their hands, much less the New - we have no excuse to be ignorant.]

Sure, they knew the tomb was empty, but that did not guarantee a thing. Suddenly, Jesus was before them, or was it a ghost? But Jesus immediately extends his peace to them. Quintessential Jesus.

And isn’t it interesting how little fanfare there was with Jesus’ post resurrection appearances? Where were the singing angels, worshipers who came from afar? Jesus walked into commonplace settings--isn’t it just like him to reveal himself over another meal? Hmmm….for Jesus, meals represented significant opportunities. For us, they do too.

Keeping it real, perhaps Jesus would say the same thing to you today as he did to those disciples in that little house in Jerusalem that night. Peace be with you. Don’t be troubled, Jerrell, don’t be worried about tomorrow, John and Kathy, I am with you.

Perhaps Jesus’ greeting of peace and assurance reminded them of a few nights earlier, just before he they had left the Passover Meal, walked across the Kidron Valley and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane—just before he was arrested, shackled and led away, when Jesus looked into their eyes and said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”2