March 9, 2009 - Luke 24

In Luke 24 we see the disciples progress from disbelief to fear to joy. We see the description of the empty tomb, but there is no picture of understanding that goes with it. The disciples don't have the benefit of our two thousand years of emotional removal and perspective. In fact, Luke writes that they don't even believe the women who have reported that the tomb is empty! We also see fear. Luke says when Jesus comes into their midst they think He is a ghost. His first order of business is to try to calm them and prove to them that He is real, not a ghost. Finally, after many days, we see the joy of the disciples. Jesus ascends into heaven and Luke records their joy. I guess they knew that He was not coming back for a long time this time, so why the joy? He had made a promise. The promise was that someone else was coming from the Father. How much do you think they understood about who was coming?