Jesus Appears to His Disciples

Luke 24:35-48

Jesus is Alive!
He is Risen! Alleluia! Jesus is Alive and has appeared to Simon! According to Luke, Simon is the first of the remaining ten disciples to have an encounter with the risen Jesus. An indication perhaps of Peter’s future role as a leader of Jesus’ Church. The remaining disciples have yet to meet the risen Jesus. Later, they receive the same news from the two companions that returned from Emmaus. As the two are narrating their Emmaus encounter, Jesus appears among them.

The Resurrected Body of Jesus
The disciples are all terrified with this unexpected encounter with the risen Christ. Luke here makes an extra effort to explain that the risen Jesus is not a Ghost. Jesus appears to his disciples in the flesh, breathing, speaking and eating with his disciples. A ghost is a spirit from the realm of the dead that has no life to breathe or eat broiled fish. Jesus however has a resurrected body of flesh and bones that still displays wounds and scars of his passion and death. Jesus has a physical body, not bound to the limits of nature, space and time. He appears and disappears at will, anywhere, anytime. The disciples are unable to recognize this Glorious divine body of Jesus just by sight. Recognizing Jesus would require knowing from the heart and not just the physical senses.

Knowing Jesus through Scripture
Knowing Jesus, is recognizing his words and understanding Him through all of scripture. After three years of teaching the disciples before his death, Jesus yet feels the need to make His disciples understand that He is not the Messianic King of an earthly kingdom but He is the Eternal Messianic King of God’s Kingdom. Through scripture, Jesus explains that His death and rising on the third day has purchased the forgiveness of sins for the whole world thus giving access to the Kingdom of God.

Proclaim the Good News
It is indeed Good News, the whole world has been saved from the slavery of sin because Jesus made a supreme sacrifice of His life by dying on the Cross and defeating evil by His rising. The disciples are witnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection who have the mission of proclaiming the free gift of forgiveness and freedom from sinful bondages in the name of Jesus to the whole world.

Risen Jesus is not a Ghost from the past
Jesus is alive even today, we may not see Him but we can experience Him. Developing a relationship with Him through prayer and scripture opens our hearts and increases our love for Him. Our hearts should constantly seek Jesus so that we are blessed with His Holy Spirit, grow in divine virtue and making us His witnesses. Man’s relationship with God is based on LOVE, if we love God, we can TRUST Him. Life isn’t easy at times, challenges are difficult, our plans don’t succeed but we do our best and surrender the rest to Him. We must TRUST Him, knowing that He LOVES us and wants the best for us.