Luke 24:44-53
This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on May 25, 2014.
Luke’s gospel begins in Jerusalem with faithful followers of the one true God receiving a message from God that he was about to make the boldest of moves. It ends in much the same way. In Luke 1, we learn that the Spirit of God will come upon one who will announce the arrival of the Son of the Most High who will save the people from their sins. In Luke 24, that Son announces that the Spirit of God will soon come upon the disciples so that they might go into the world and preach about the forgiveness of sins to all nations. As a result, the conclusion of Luke’s gospel serves not as an ending of the story of Jesus, but rather, as a transition from Jesus’s earthly ministry in Israel to his global ministry via his church.
In this text, Luke establishes the fact that the church’s ministry is rooted in the scriptures by having Jesus once more explain that everything that has happened to him happened to fulfill what was written in “the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (24:44). Like he did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus opens the scriptures and the disciples’ minds so that they could understand the truth of the scriptures. Once more Jesus shows that the Messiah’s suffering, death, and resurrection were foretold in the scriptures (24:46; See also Luke 9:22; 18:31-33; 24:7). Unlike those previous occasions, here, Jesus also explains to his disciples that the scriptures foretell that “repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his [the Messiah’s] name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (24:46). The church’s mission is not plan B. It has been God’s plan for the followers of Jesus all along.
Literarily, Luke 24:46-49 presents the theme for Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts. These verses concisely express the content of the gospel message – Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection (see Acts 2:22-24; 3:13-15). They introduce the scope of the gospel’s reach – all nations (see Acts 1:8; 9:15; 13:47; 26:23). They allude to the method of the gospel’s spread – the disciples will preach in Jesus’s name (Acts 2:36-39; 3:19; 26:20). They also explain the power by which they will go. They will go “clothed with power from on high” (24:48). While Jesus does not identify this power other than that it is “what my Father has promised” and that it will be given at a later date, it is apparent that Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit. This is made abundantly clear throughout the book of Acts (Acts 1:8; 2:1-4, 33; 4:31; 6:10; 9:31).
After instructing the disciples to stay in the city until the Spirit comes, Jesus leads his followers out near Bethany, lifts his hands, blesses them, and is taken up into heaven. Far from being dismayed at Jesus’ departure, the disciples worship Jesus and joyfully return to Jerusalem, presumably to await the Spirit’s arrival. While they wait, they worship regularly at the temple praising God for what he has done.
This passage provides the preacher with an excellent opportunity to preach about the missio Dei, that is, the mission of God. Simply put, the mission of God is the redemption of all creation. God’s mission serves as the overarching theme of the biblical narrative. From the earliest days of God’s interaction with Israel, God has revealed himself as a God who saves. Mission, therefore, precedes the creation of the church and is rooted in the whole story of God’s people. Mission, therefore, is essential to the church’s very nature. Just as God sent his Son into the world, the Son and the Father now send the Spirit into the world to empower the church to preach the good news unto the ends of the earth. This passage makes clear, this sending of the church fulfills the scriptures in the same manner that Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection do.
This passage also presents the preacher with an opportunity to give the congregation a refresher course on the gospel message. As noted above, this passage gives a concise explanation of the content and scope of the gospel. The church has struggled with each of these points. At one time or another the church has been tempted to leave out part of Jesus’s story, usually the part concerning his suffering. Many Christians remain less than enthused about sharing the good news with all people, especially with those they regard as enemies. This passage reminds us that it’s not the good news if it isn’t rooted in the death and resurrection of Jesus or if it fails to be offered to all people for the forgiveness of sins.
Finally, the simple truth that Luke’s gospel ends with the disciples worshiping Jesus at his ascension provides the preacher with fertile ground for exploring the historicity of Jesus’s bodily resurrection from the grave. The most dramatic evidence that something spectacular happened on Easter Sunday is the radical fact that this group of faithful Jewish believers went from thinking of Jesus as a failed Messiah to worshiping him as God (compare Luke 24:21 with 24:52)! That the disciples hoped that Jesus was the Messiah was one thing. Jews were on the lookout for the Messiah, but no Jew of that day equated the Messiah with God. The Messiah was God’s anointed. He was a king like David, but every faithful Jew knew there was only one God in the heavens. Worship belonged to him alone. And yet here, at the end of Luke’s gospel, the disciples aren’t just praising God for sending Jesus the Messiah. They are worshiping Jesus, the Messiah, as if he were God. What could explain such a radical change? Only something as radical as a bodily resurrection from the grave.
Taylor Sandlin
Pastor, Southland Baptist Church
San Angelo, Texas
Taylor@southlandbaptist.org