His Appearance at Jerusalem

["Click here for Luke's account"]
["Click here for John's account"]

John establishes the time of this appearance. The first day of the week, Sunday, the evening of that day. Luke says He appeared just as the two men from Emmaus were completing their story of the events of that day on their way to Emmaus. As they were relating their story, Jesus Himself, came and stood among them. The Disciples were probably in the "upper room", the room that they had observed the Feast of the Passover in on the Friday before.

The question is, why were all of them there in this room? Some answers to this question are here suggested.

  1. They probably sought the comfort of each others company.
  2. They needed to pray and get some answers to the questions that was on their minds.
  3. They needed to evaluate the events of the day.
  4. They needed to discuss their plans for the future. They obviously were in some danger, the extent of which, they did not know but for security reasons, they kept the door locked.

Suddenly, Jesus appeared in their midst. The Disciples were startled and afraid. The door was locked, there was no way in and yet He appeared in their midst. They did not as yet understand the resurrected body. Notice Jesus immediately calmed their fears and put their minds at rest. "Why are you troubles and why do questions arise in your minds?" Many questions were being asked in the minds that day but at that moment the question seemed to be, who is this Spirit that has suddenly appeared in our midst?

Notice He first calms their fears. "Peace be with you." Pages can be written about what that greeting covered. It immediately established that His visit was a visit of love. He had not come to chastise them, as He might well have done, He had not come to condemn Peter for denying Him, He had come to express His disappointment in them for running away in fear. He had not come to condemn them for their lack of faith in the resurrection. He had come to calm their fears and answer the doubts and questions that were troubling them that day.

The question in my mind was, why didn't He meet them in Galilee as He had instructed the women earlier that day? Matthew Henry suggests two possible reasons:

  1. He was anxious to see them and did not wait until they went back to Galilee.
  2. Secondly, and probably closer to the truth, He anticipated their needs and surly His presence would take care of that.

But there were still many questions unanswered. Lets look at a few of them.

  1. Who are you? At first they thought He was a Spirit which indeed He was. A Spirit with a resurrected body. A body that was not subject to the confines of this world. A body that could be disguised as on the way to Emmaus, or made recognizable as it was for the Marys and others that morning.

But there were still doubts in their minds and to help them He showed them the nail prints in His feet and hands and the mark of the spear in His side. These marks remained to identify the body of the resurrected Lord here on earth and to speak in Heaven of His qualification to intercede for the lost.

Notice the impression that these identifying marks had on the Disciples. They were glad when they saw them, they were convinced that He was the resurrected Christ. Their faith was reaffirmed, their hearts were glad again.

This appearance showed them something about the resurrected body.

  1. He appeared with out opening the door. Restraints that apply to an earthly body do not apply to an resurrected body.
  2. He could make it into any form, recognizable or otherwise.
  3. He could eat, but He had no need of food, but in His eating He gave reality to His being.

Finally He got to the question that was bothering them. His death seemed to end all their hopes of an earthly Kingdom of God. They had left all and followed Him, their hopes of being a part of some great movement that had been promised with the coming of the Messiah, was ended with His crucifixion. They needed assurance that there was going to be meaning to their lives now and this He did. "As my Father has sent me, so send I you." From this time on, the Disciples were known as Apostles. The word Apostle means "sent men".

Notice what their work would be:

  1. They were to be witnesses of His word, preachers and publishers of the truth.
  2. They were to be sent with power. As the Father sent me, so send I you. Those who receive you, receive me. Those who reject you, reject me.

Then He said something that is very difficult to understand and even more difficult to explain. "He breathed on them the Holy Spirit." Luke says He "blessed them". This is not to be confused with the gift of the Spirit which they received at Pentecost. It was done to serve two purposes. First, to show them that He was really alive and breathing even though it was not necessary to sustaining life. Secondly, it was symbolic. As the breath of God gave life to man at creation, so the breath of Christ gave life to His ministers.

Notice what authority He gave them. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." Likewise, "If you retain the sins of any, they are retained." This authority is used by the Roman Catholics to establish the right of their Priests to forgive sins. Why don't we, as Protestants, go along with this? We believe the authority and power to save, forgive and condemn, is in the Gospel. Man, led of the Spirit, is entrusted with that TRUTH that in and of itself, will condemn or acquit. This puts great honor and responsibility upon all who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we believe that it is the TRUTH that the minister proclaims that saves or condemns, not the minister.


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