"He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'" (Luke 24:6-7)
Luke 24 contains two themes throughout the chapter; 1) the fulfillment of Christ's teachings on His death, burial and resurrection and 2) the continued struggles His disciple had in seeing this truth as it was; predicted, unfolded, and completed before their every eyes.
After Jesus's death, His disciples were blinded by their grief, discouraged, lost, afraid, and did not see this event for what it was, the fulfillment of all that the prophets have spoken! They saw His death as the end of their Messiah and His kingdom here on earth, not reconciling it with what He had taught them. (Matthew 20:17-19)
It took the Lord Himself appearing to; Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, to Peter, then the twelve collectively showing them His hands and His feet, eating with them and finally opening their understanding to the scriptures, before their blindness turned to joy and their hope restored. (v.45)
Just as it took the infallible truth of the scriptures to open the eyes of those who walked with Jesus then, so it may be with our loved ones today as well. With so much evil in our world, we need to keep praying that our Lord will bring His truth into their lives and open their understanding to His love and grace.
The Truth
Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (Matthew 20:17-19)
