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Luke 24: 35-48 Audio King James Bible KJV | Daily Verses
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
36 ¶ And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
The disciples who encountered Jesus on their way to Emmaus have returned in haste to tell the disciples in Jerusalem what they have heard and seen. Jerusalem has long been a city special to God. It is the Holy City. The Church of Christ is described, in the New Testament, as the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the new Jerusalem. It is here that Christ suffered. It is from here that the Kingdom of God begins to spread.
When Jesus appears to the disciples in Jerusalem, they are in hiding behind locked doors. They are afraid of the Jewish authorities; the threat of death hangs over them. They are also afraid when they see Jesus because they think they are seeing a spirit, no matter Christ’s first words of reassurance: Peace be with you.
Through these verses, we are brought to understand something more about the nature of Christ’s glorified body and of our own resurrection. Christ’s nature is not now incorporeal. He can be touched. He reassures his disciples further by asking them to give him something to eat. And yet he is not bound by the limitations of time and space. His body is totally subject to his soul. He is free to enter within locked spaces. The resurrection is of flesh and spirit.
It is a beautiful scene, as Jesus offers his body to his disciples again, to assist their belief, so that they may recognize the risen Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, whose hands and feet are pierced. Contrary to all that the disciples have feared, given the shame of death by crucifixion, which indeed was held as a sign of having been cursed by God, Jesus their Lord has returned to them.
Just as he spoke to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, so now Jesus teaches those present to understand the Scriptures anew. He opens the disciples’ minds and they understand. They see now how the Old Testament pointed toward Christ, telling of what must happen to him and of how he would rise. Their minds are illuminated. And, through this, there is the injunction once again to spread the good news, to teach repentance and the forgiveness of sins through Jesus. For the time to come, the disciples are to be witnesses of Jesus’ teaching and of his glorious resurrection which makes our life possible.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8: 10-11)
Audio Bible KJV | King James Version | Endnotes
What Does It Mean To Be Amazed And Afraid – To Be Terrified Of Jesus?
To be amazed and afraid of Jesus is to be confronted with power and majesty of the divine. It is to recognize that there is everything greater than oneself and to be filled with the extraordinary awe and wonder – of God. It is to be challenged and transformed by encounter with the divine, to be called to deeper and impossible understanding of what we can at all know of God’s presence.
To be amazed and afraid is testament to the reality of Jesus – God the Son.
In this Gospel passage, the disciples are terrified.
Fear Of God In The Old Testament | Moses And The Burning Bush
Encounter with the divine is characterized as excession – as it were a divine invasion far in excess of human limitation, though also lovingly. The disciples’ encounters with Jesus and their response have multiple antecedents. Here are two examples.
In Exodus 3, Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush, and the encounter is characterized by awe, reverence and fear.
Moses is tending his flock in the wilderness when he sees a bush that is burning but is not consumed. As he approaches the bush, he hears the voice of God speaking to him from the midst of the flames, saying: ‘Moses, Moses!’ And Moses responds: ‘Here I am.’
God reveals Himself to Moses, saying: ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ God tells Moses that He has heard the cries of the Israelites, who are enslaved in Egypt, and that He has chosen Moses to lead them out of slavery and into the promised land.
When Moses sees the burning bush, he is afraid to look at it. And when God reveals Himself to Moses, Moses hides his face, for he is afraid to look at God.
The burning bush denotes God’s holiness and power to consume and purify all that is impure. It shows God’s compassion and concern for His people. God hears the cries of the Israelites and chooses Moses to be their leader, demonstrating His love and care for His people. And shows the human response to encountering the divine. Moses is filled with fear in the presence of God – the overwhelming power and majesty of the divine.
Fear Of God And The Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 6:1-8 is an account of the prophet Isaiah’s vision of God in the temple. The passage is an example of encountering the divine in a way that produces both fear and amazement.
The passage begins by stating that it is ‘in the year that King Uzziah died’ that Isaiah had his vision. This is significant because Uzziah had been a powerful and successful king, and his death marked the end of an era of stability and security in Israel. Isaiah’s vision thus takes place at a time of great upheaval and uncertainty.
In his vision, Isaiah sees the Lord ‘sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up’. The Lord is surrounded by seraphim, who are described as having six wings and calling out to each other in praise of the Lord. The whole temple is filled with smoke, which is a symbol of the divine presence in the Bible.
Isaiah’s reaction to this vision is one of profound fear and amazement. He cries out: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
Isaiah’s response expresses his knowledge of unworthiness and sinfulness in the face of the holy and transcendent God. Isaiah’s response also shows the importance of acknowledging sinfulness as a necessary step in encountering God’s mercy and grace.
The passage continues as one of the seraphim flies to Isaiah with a live coal from the altar, which he places on Isaiah’s lips, saying: ‘Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’ This act of purification enables Isaiah to hear the voice of the Lord, who is calling for Isaiah to go and prophesy to the people of Israel.
There is a transformation of life in call to prophetic ministry.
Isaiah’s encounter with God in the temple is an example of what is called a theophany – a visible manifestation of God to humans.
As the temple is filled with smoke, the seraphim are described as crying out: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ This three-fold repetition of ‘holy’ emphasizes the absolute otherness and purity of God, as well as His transcendence and immanence – the fact that He is both completely beyond our comprehension and yet intimately involved in the world.
Isaiah’s encounter also emphasizes the importance of repentance and purification as a necessary step in encountering God. Isaiah’s cry of ‘Woe is me!’ shows his recognition of his own sinfulness and unworthiness in the presence of God. The live coal that purifies Isaiah’s lips symbolizes the forgiveness and grace that God offers to those who repent and turn to Him.
Finally, Isaiah’s encounter emphasizes the call to prophetic ministry. After his purification, Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord asking: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Isaiah responds with the words: ‘Here am I! Send me.’
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