Luke 24

(24:1-12) The triumph! The Great Surprise! This story never gets old. I once heard that to commemorate this great act, Eastern Orthodox Christians will get together on the Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Day and tell their best jokes to remember the great joy and wondrous surprise it must have been for the women and the nasty surprise it must have been for the evil one (still a jerk!).


(24:13-35) I love this story as well. So these two guys are walking and Jesus comes up and walks with them. When He asks them what they're talking about, they actually stop altogether out of great despair: ...but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And I love berse 27: And beginning with Moses [Torah] and the Prophets [the rest of the OT] he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. How would you have liked to be a part of that conversation?! So they get to Emmaus, and it's late, so they invite Jesus in to eat with them (still not recognizing Him) and Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Do you remember the way first-century Jews pray in giving thanks for bread? "Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth." And that's when they recognize Jesus. And just like that, He's gone. Now look at verse 33: They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. Remember that it's late now and that Jerusalem was 7 miles away! These guys weren't going to let anything stop them from getting the good news to their friends. And when they get there, Jesus shows up again.


Last verse in Luke: And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Because they saw the Jesus movement not as a new religion altogether, but as an extension of Judaism. While it's true that the early church had to learn a whole lot about the fact that this message was for Gentiles also, I think that it is one of the great shames of all time that we have largely divorced our faith from its Jewish roots. Of course, I don't think we need to become Jewish to be Christian, but I do think there's alot to learn stemming from the fact that Jesus was a first-century Jew.


This is the last chapter of Luke. If you're willing, John is next...let's start next Monday. A few of you have told me that you're "behind" in the readings or whatever, and I say, "Whatever you do, don't beat yourself up over it." And certainly this is not the only way to do devotions. Quite honestly, I feel like these postings have been as much (if not more) about my growth (and my need to grow) in my walk as they have been about benefiting those who read it. I am very glad for your comments as we go along, but by no means feel bad about "missing a day or three" or "falling behind" or whatever. I'm just one man doing devotions one way out of thousands of ways it could be done, and I'm deeply grateful for your partnership along the way, but by no means do I want to communicate that it has to be done like this.

Okay, so that paragraph wasn't very clear, but I can't think of how to phrase it better
Praise God for His Word!