Luke: Walking and Eating with the Risen Jesus
Luke: Walking and Eating with the Risen Jesus
By Fr Tom O'Reilly SSC
Jesus’ death and resurrection in Jerusalem provides the essential link between the mission of Jesus and the mission of the Church. Luke is consciously forging this link as he ends his Gospel and begins the Acts of the Apostles.
Every Gospel has the story of the finding of the empty tomb by women disciples. The empty tomb does not in itself lead to resurrection faith. In Luke’s version (24:1-12), we have two heavenly messengers explaining why the tomb is empty: ‘He has risen’ (24:5). These messengers stress the importance of remembering what Jesus told disciples in Galilee (24:6-8). Resurrection faith is born out of attentiveness to the word of the Lord. For the women, resurrection faith leads to the mission of proclaiming the good news that Jesus lives (24:9). These women appear in a better light than the men who refuse to believe (24:11). This fits in with Luke’s tendency to highlight the important role of women in the story of Jesus.
Given the pivotal position of Jerusalem in Luke’s two-volume work, all appearances of the risen Jesus are situated in Jerusalem and its environs. The story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13-35) is the favourite resurrection story of many. These disciples, one of whom could be a woman, are on a journey, walking away from Jerusalem, the place of the paschal events that are central to discipleship and mission. In their sadness, disappointment, hopelessness, and confusion, they fail to recognise the risen Jesus. He invites them to tell their story and gently leads them out of desolation into deeper insight by opening the Scriptures for them. With burning hearts they invite the stranger to break bread with them, an action which becomes the moment of resurrection faith. Every time we share our stories in the light of God’s word, we too can recognise the risen Lord among us. Every time we come together to listen to God’s word and break bread at the Lord’s table, we too can experience the presence of the risen Lord reaching out to us in our brokenness. Resurrection faith once again leads to mission, as two disciples who had been moving away from Jerusalem now return with good news, only to find that the risen Lord is there before them. Mission is often about discovering the presence and activity of the risen Lord in places where we go to proclaim good news.
The Emmaus story leads into the story of Jesus’ appearance to a larger group of disciples at a time when they also are sharing experiences (24:36-49). Jesus assures frightened and disbelieving disciples of the reality of his bodily resurrection by inviting them to touch him and by eating food in their presence. Each of the resurrection appearances in Luke’s Gospel takes place in the context of a meal, a reminder of Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners as a sign of God’s hospitality for all. Disciples who have failed Jesus are now sent on universal mission from Jerusalem to witness to him and, on the basis of their own experience, to preach the good news of repentance and forgiveness. Jesus sends them with a reminder of God’s fidelity, by referring to the fulfilment of the Scriptures in his regard. He also promises his Spirit to empower them for mission.
Luke is the only evangelist to give us an account of the ascension. Indeed he gives us two accounts (Lk 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11)! In the Gospel the emphasis is on Jesus’ departure to the Father’s house, while in Acts the future universal mission of Jesus’ disciples is to the fore.
The words ‘to be continued’ could be put at the end of Luke’s Gospel. The story continues in the universal mission described in the Acts of the Apostles. The same words could be put at the end of Acts. We are invited to shape the continuing story by engaging in mission in the way of Jesus.
[Gospel of St Luke - Reflections by Fr Tom O'Reilly SSC]