Luke Chapter 24 (Part 2)

Read Luke 24:28-53

Verse 30-This is similar to when He fed the 5000 - Read Luke 9:16

Verse 31 - Then they recognized Him - as if the blessing and breaking of bread sparked a memory (like how the angels told the women to remember)

Verse 31 - He vanished - Resurrected bodies are different

• They are spiritual bodies, not earthly ones - Read I Cor. 15:40, 42, 44, 49-50 Read I John 3:2

• Resurrected (spiritual) bodies can do things that earthly bodies cannot do

Verse 34 - Now that they saw Him, they believed. They revealed to the other disciples that Peter saw Him too - they must have met Peter on their way back to where the disciples were gathered

Verse 36 - Jesus stood in their midst - He vanished, now He just appeared - we will be able to do the same thing someday!

Verse 37 - They were startled and frightened - this tells me that even with the testimony of the 2 disciples and Peter, the disciples still did not believe.

Verse 38- Why doubt? They didn't even trust their physical senses- they didn't believe the women, They didn't remember what Jesus said to them during His ministry, nor did they think of all the prophecies

• Nor did they have the Holy Spirit to help them - yet. If you think about it, you realize how much the Holy Spirit is involved in our lives. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that people are called and enabled to believe. Then once you become a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is always within you. Yet, people often ignore His promptings. Read I Thess. 5:19 So even though He is there, we still have to choose to follow His lead.

• I think that is why Jesus stayed on earth for 40 days after His resurrection. He wanted to remove all doubt. He wanted His followers to be eyewitnesses - and then to proclaim and record first-hand accounts that would later become the New Testament.  Read verses 45-48

Verse 39-A spirit does not have flesh and bones- but a spiritual body does (He told them to touch Him - to prove that He was not a spirit)

• Earthly bodies have flesh and blood

• Read 1 Cor.15:50, Gal.1:16, Matt.16:17, Eph. 6:12

Verse 41 - Could not believe it because of their joy and amazement (is this just an "expression"?)

• They were in shock

• It didn't "sink in" right away

Verse 43 -He ate -more proof that He was not a spirit

Verse 45 - He opened their minds to understand - we can pray and ask for the same thing

Verses 46-48 - The disciples were very privileged to have been alive in that time and in that place to have witnessed these things. But-they were also given a huge responsibility! We are here today, as followers of Jesus, because of them. Many of them died as martyrs - which in itself is a witness to the fact that the message they proclaimed is true. People are not willing to die for something they know to be false. Martyrdom proved they weren't liars.

Verse 49-The promise-what's that? The Holy Spirit (who clothes us with power) Read John 14:26

So - we have come to the end of the Gospel of Luke. However, this is not the end of Luke's account. He also wrote the book of Acts.