Last day of UB

Presentation Notes

Last day of unleavened bread 4/29

I want to review the post resurrection appearances of Yeshua and just highlight something from each one.

Harmony.

Women find the tomb empty.

Angels tell them that Yeshua is risen.

Tell the disciples

Peter and John investigate,

During this time we have the first appearance of the resurrected Lord to Mary Magdalene. She is weeping at the tomb and the two angels ask her why she is crying.

13 … She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

First, it is notable that He first appears to a woman, given their status in society. It has been said that women were not considered reliable for eye witness testimony in court cases. The fact that all of the gospels record that the women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb lends credibility to the accounts.

“brethren, my father, your father, my God, your God.

This highlights that even in a resurrected state Yeshua was humbling Himself and showing that he was still human. In so doing He is lifting up the disciples, and even us by calling them brethren.

This aspects really stands out, that He considers us family. That in Messiah we are seen as God’s children, as brothers of the Lord. This wording gives a strong sense of almost equality and intimacy.

Luke 24:13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was [e]seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.”

He asks them what they are talking about. They’re shocked that He isn’t aware of these events. Finally, after He listens to them for a while –

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

What’s notable about this is that these are “ordinary” disciples. They aren’t part of the 12. We don’t know hardly anything about these two except that one is named Cleopas.

Tell the 11

Luke 24:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

This appearance to Simon is not mentioned anywhere in the Gospels, but it is mentioned in -

1 Cor. 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.

It’s possible that Peter was with the two when Yeshua broke the bread, but that seems like an odd detail to leave out. So, it’s not clear exactly when this took place.

Now, they have been told by the women, that an angel told them that Jesus was risen and they didn’t believe. They were told by Mary Magdalene that she had seen the risen Lord. They still did not believe. What do you think is going to happen when these two disciples tell them their story?

They still didn’t believe! Which is really kind of amazing. Except, that if we were there, we probably would not believe either.

John tells us how they were gathered together.

John 20:19a On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, …

What does this tell us?

It tells us that the Lord gives us opportunities to believe. To believe Him at His word. He sometimes gives us progressively more reasons to believe. But He is also very patient with our unbelief.

And it’s here the Lord appears to them.

c… Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

At this point the disciples were - what? Terrified.

Luke 24:37 but they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

This is a really honest account isn’t it. The Bible doesn’t hide the faults of its heroes.

In going over these different accounts, I’ve also come to really appreciate the different perspectives that come with having multiple different accounts. There are so many details from one that are not in another.

Creating a harmony of the gospels is not without challenge. The details they choose to give make it seem like things played out in a completely different manner. It’s important to realize that while each one is inspired by God, it is also according to the perspectives and goals of each human author.

Mark is really good for a rapid fire list of events that seem in order. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, then He appeared to two as they walked through the country, then He appeared to the 11, then He gives them the great commission and ascends to heaven. It’s a little more than that, but it’s almost comedic how brief his account is.

Even Mathew and Luke don’t mention anything about the length of time that he was there after the resurrection, until in Acts Luke explains that he was there for 40 days, and John actually gives us some of the conversations that took place during that time.

J Warner Wallace? Cold Case Christianity. (Not Case for Christ) He was a homicide detective who took the different accounts of the Gospels and tried to look at them as if they were testimonies in one of his cold cases. Cold cases are investigations that remain unsolved and are not actively pursued due to lack of sufficient evidence. Some investigators specialize in reviewing cold cases and coming up with new theories and lines of investigation to solve them.

In his assessment, the gospels ring true precisely because certain details left out of one gospel are filled in by another account. One example he gives is that Matthew tells us the soldiers struck Yeshua and said “Prophesy, Messiah, who struck you?”. Which - why would that be considered prophecy? Well, Luke explains that He was first blindfolded before they did this. Okay, now that makes more sense.

And this goes for everything. How many things do we have for which there is only one account? Is our impression of what’s being said the same thing as what the authors intended to convey?

This leads to another point that I think is really important. Because of that, you’ve probably heard me say this before.

An account, a story, is compressed. For the simple fact that you can’t state everything, some details are left out, some details are accentuated - often to the point that, if the story is simply read as is, it can lead to false conclusions.

Does that mean the record is false? No.

It means that our impressions and assumptions that we bring to the text are fallible. These assumptions can come from all over.

By being humans - we want to think certain things about different characters.

By being modern - we have certain expectations coming from the rational Enlightenment period and all of the philosophical thought that’s gone before us.

By being westerners - we can project our own cultural expectations onto the text.

By having hundreds of years of Church history with different theological frameworks and ideas - sometimes contradictory ones - piled on.

There are so many lenses that we necessarily have when coming Scriptures. It takes work to understand what our lenses we are using, to identify how they might influence our perception, and to differentiate our assumptions from what the text is and isn’t saying.

Here’s why it’s actually dangerous not to – if we have the “only” interpretation and it’s wrong, there’s only two things that can happen. Either you have to jump through hoops to try and make it work, or your faith is undermined – not because of the text, but because of the assumptions and expectations that the text is being forced into. We do this without even realizing it, but the more that we are aware of them, the more we can limit that.

Interpreting Scripture is not futile, it’s just not always straightforward.

So, after He finally convinces them that it’s really Him.

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

It’s important to note here that their understanding had to be opened for them to comprehend the Scriptures as they relate to Yeshua.

It will never be enough to tell someone about Jesus, to point to the prophecies about Him, or even to witness miracles. They had already seen countless miracles and been told how Moses and the prophets point to Him.

“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you”

It required a work of the Holy Spirit to open their understanding to comprehend the Scriptures.

The gentile world, many of them have not heard. Some have, but many have not. The religious Jews know the Scriptures. However, the revelation of Yeshua is a supernatural work.

We need to have patience with both groups. Those that we are reaching out to, we need to pray that their eyes of understanding are opened so that they can comprehend the Scriptures.

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians describes his prayer for them:

Eph 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; … that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

So, we need to pray this for those we are ministering to, for each other, and for ourselves – that God would grant us comprehension of His word. Not just so that we can know theology – but that we would understand the person and the work of Yeshua Messiah.

So – He appeared to the disciples late that evening on the first day of the week. But there was one that was not there. Thomas, also called Didymus or “The Twin”. Aramaic and Greek. He gets a bad rap doesn’t he?

Doubting Thomas. “Don’t be a doubting Thomas.”

How about Thomas the skeptic? To be sure, doubt is not favorable.

But the other disciples didn’t believe the report of at least 4 people that had seen the risen Lord and at least 2 that saw angels saying that He had risen, and they were rebuked by the Lord. 4 people, 13 people…

Interestingly, the Lord doesn’t appear to him for a whole week.

26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

That’s all of us. :)

It’s in this interaction that we get this amazing theological statement by Thomas that confirms the deity of Messiah.

John then goes on to recount the appearance of Messiah on the seashore after some of the disciples decided to go fishing and didn’t catch anything all night.

So one thing to note about this is that we can see ourselves here. How often oes Yeshua find us returning to our own business? Returning to old familiar paths.

Yeshua calls out to them asking if they caught anything and then tells them to cast on the right side of the boat, then they bring a huge haul of fish. Here Peter has some major deja vu. So after everyone gets to shore we see the conversation where Yeshua says “Peter do you love me?” 3 times. You know, like how Peter denied him 3 times. We assume Peter gets some kind of closure over that whole situation.

It’s interesting because after the first time that happened with the nets being full of fish, He tells Peter that he will be a fisher of men. Here He’s calling him to tend to His flock.

So we see the Lord appearing to them as they are going about their regular life. He doesn’t rebuke them, but He gives them a higher calling.

Finally, we have the last appearance where He gives them the Great Commission and tells them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit and ascends to Heaven.

We know that these are not the only appearances of Messiah after his resurrection.

1 Cor 15: (which I read from before says,) 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. (then it says) 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Now, this is not an appearance, but it is a miracle that they would have witnessed. Matthew 27 states that at the crucifixion “ the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Which, as Anthony mentioned recently - this is all we hear about it. So, we can only imagine.

Acts 1 is where we get a clearer timeframe for all of these things. **“**The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

John 20:30-31 (says this line before the appearance at the sea, but also at the end of the book, so I take this to be a reference to the post-resurrection appearances.) Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.