Kendall the Fire

Luke chapter 24 has a wonderful story about the resurrection of Jesus…

³⁶ While the disciples were talking about this (the resurrection), Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ and he took it and ate in their presence.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary describes the event as follows:

“In this appearance, three things about Jesus are evident. First, Jesus proved to His followers that He had really been resurrected. Not only did He stand in their presence so they could see Him and His wounds (vv. 39-40), but He also ate food (a piece of broiled fish) before them to show that He was not a ghost.”

Ken Heer adds: “The testimony of the group was one of growing certainty. ‘It is true! The Lord has risen’ (Luke 24:34). The impossible had happened, and the resurrection was becoming a certified reality. Hopes destroyed were replaced with truth verified.”  ~ The Wesleyan Commentary for Bible Students

Verse 41 veritably jumps out at me… “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.”   Another way of putting it would be to say, “it was too good to be true—so they disbelieved for joy.”

Famous mid-century preacher, Paul Scherer, wrote:

“It was not easy to believe in Jesus. We cannot even imagine any more what the odds were against him. We chant sentimental ditties about wishing we could have been with him back then, and we talk sometimes about the incredible dullness of the disciples—with the sly implication that our Lord would have been much better off if He had had us instead. But it was not easy. The Sanhedrin, which was the board of trustees and the executive committee and the court of appeals of the Church of God in Palestine, all rolled into one, would have nothing to do with him. Most of the respectable people despised him. And they had made him eat his words. He had died out there on that hill, just as any man would have died. These were the facts. And ‘certainly one had to hold with the facts.’ Unless they should happen to collide with a God who pays very little attention to any of them! Still, it was not easy to believe that the evil of life could ever be dislodged by the good… ‘so, why keep fooling ourselves with pretty pictures?’ the disciples thought. Nor was it easy for them to believe that anything would ever change. Nevertheless, life is not the cut and dried affair some people seem to think it…  Instead, Christmas comes out of a stable, the Son of God out of a nondescript little village, and centuries of Christianity out of a grave! Thus, when the disciples saw him again—risen—they rubbed their eyes; then they stood up to be counted, and launched themselves into it.”    – The Interpreter’s Bible (Luke-John) p. 431-432

So now we can say, along with Leo the Great (Fifth Century Church Father when writing about the Apostles’ post-resurrection activities), “Their ‘seeing’ instructed us, their ‘hearing’ informed us, their ‘touching’ strengthened us.” 

May I be equally inspired to know Christ and be like Him,  having come through the Easter Season in 2026!

• Image courtesy of Chat GPT.