The Living Word (Luke 24)
12:30 PM
Our Reading: Luke 24
The
resurrection story is familiar and yet always amazing! In the minds of the
followers of Jesus, He was gone. His death seemed so final. The women were
taking spices to anoint his body and when the body wasn’t there,. They were
perplexed. Even though Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection, no one
was looking for him. They were not expecting a living Jesus. And they were
frightened by the mysterious men who appeared. “And as they were
frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why
do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen...”(v5-6).
They were told to remember the words of Jesus and they did and those words had
fresh meaning. Suddenly, everything had changed. The Master was
still present, still in charge, and still at work in their lives.
But,
the disciples needed their own personal encounter. They still didn’t
understand. How ironic that Jesus walked with 2 of them as they traveled to
Emmaus and they didn’t know they were telling Jesus himself about their dashed
hopes in Him. “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem
Israel...” (v24) And Jesus responded, “And he said to them, "O foolish
ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it
not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his
glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (v25-27).
Maybe
they didn’t understand before, but all of that changed when Jesus gave them new
understanding. The familiar words of the Scriptures took on new revelation, new
life and personal experience. “They said to each other, "Did not our
hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us
the Scriptures?"” (v32) And then Jesus appeared to the other disciples and
they had their own personal encounter with the risen Savior too. And once
again, he reminded them to remember his Words. Then 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 the Prophets and the Psalms
must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,”
(v44-45)
The
hopes renewed in the hearts of the followers of Jesus are our shared hopes too.
He is not just a great prophet, or an amazing teacher who walked the Earth
1000s of years ago, but He is the living Jesus, the Son of God, and His Words
are still available and relevant to us today. Each of us must have a
personal encounter with the living, risen Savior. We must become familiar with
His Words for they are our instruction manual. “All Scripture is breathed out
by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for
every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ) And because Jesus rose from the dead and
sent the Holy Spirit to us, we also can have understanding of the Scriptures
opened up to us. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I
have said to you.” (John 14:26)
How
exciting is that? I learned just this week about 2 different words used in the
original texts for God’s Word. One is “logos” which refers to a general, broad
knowledge or familiarity with Scripture. The other is “Rhema” which refers to a
more specific, personally impacting understanding of Scripture. We must be in
His Word to have that general “logos” understanding and we must have a personal
relationship with Jesus to have that spiritually revealed “Rhema”
understanding. Then, we too can know what it’s like to converse on an intimate
level and have our hearts burn within us too as His passion and love penetrates to new depths and with new revelation.
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