April 14, 2024
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Luke 24:36-48
God’s Perfect Plan
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” (Lk 24:44)
In today’s gospel reading we hear of Jesus’ third appearance after his resurrection.
According to Luke, his first appearance occurred to those two disciples walking to the nearby town of Emmaus. They were quite glum and confused as they walked along. They didn’t recognize Jesus. When he met them he asked, “Hey, why are you so blue?” Thatquestion stopped them in their tracks.
“Really? Are you the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard of the events of the last few days?” They tell him about Jesus’ crucifixion and how some of their women friends found his tomb empty just this morning and their encounter with angels.
As they walk along to Emmaus, Jesus presents to them all of the scriptural passages relating to the promised Messiah, how it was necessary for him to suffer and rise from the dead.
Wouldn’t that have been a marvelous discussion? Don’t you wish one of them had had a recording device and had recorded that conversation for all of us to listen to? Jesus giving his own scriptural commentary as to why he was crucified, died and was buried, and that on the third day he rose from the dead. That would be an amazing conversation!
After Jesus made himself known to them in the breaking of the dinner’s bread, they said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke to us on the road, as he opened up to us the scriptures?”
This fulfillment of the scriptures seems to play a key role in all four of the gospels. Something happens, and the gospel writer pauses to provide commentary: “This occurred in order to fulfill what had been written in the scriptures…”
In the book of Acts, as the now emboldened Peter makes numerous speeches about Jesus, time and again he quotes the Hebrew scriptures. “You know, this event here is exactly what the prophet Joel was talking about….” “Hey, remember that David said just this in the Psalms….”
Paul, too, in his letters was constantly referring to the Hebrew scriptures. All of it pointed to this man Jesus. It revealed exactly all the events that happened to him. This had been God’s magnificent plan all along.
So these two disciples in Emmaus high-tail it back to Jerusalem and find the disciples. But before they can get in a single word to tell them what they’d experienced, the disciples say to them, “Listen! The Lord has risen indeed, and he’s appeared to Peter!”
So that was the second appearance of Jesus, he appeared to Peter. Then the two of them from Emmaus revealed what had happened to them.
It was while this very discussion was going on that Jesus appears before them all in our gospel reading for today. Much as he had disappeared from the presence of the two Emmaus disciples, he now suddenly appears before them all, in the flesh.
Appearing like that, just suddenly appearing, it frightens them. People don’t just pop into a room! They think they’re seeing a ghost. Jesus assures them he is not. “Touch me and see.” Jesus directs them to look and touch his hands and feet. He’s directing them to the places where the nails from his crucifixion pierced through his flesh. They saw him nailed to the cross, they saw him crucified. And now they can see the very wounds still there on his body. He’s not a look-alike. This is Jesus!
And then Jesus states that all of the Hebrew scriptures point to him, from Moses to the prophets to the psalms. He specifically mentions those three areas. These are the three principal sections of the Hebrew Bible: the Torah, the Nevi’im and the Ketuvim – the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. Basically he’s saying that all of scriptures points to him.
Each passage becomes like a puzzle piece. One by one, Jesus begins to assemble all these varied pieces. Together they show how his death and resurrection had been God’s divine plan all along.
This was the perfect plan from the eternal, all-knowing, all-wise mind of God! And the plan reflects just what is in the mind of God. I’d like to address three things God’s perfect plan in Jesus shows us about the mind of God.
First, this was a plan for goodness. What God intends is the salvation of the world. We have a well-intentioned, loving God. LOVE is at the very core of God. So often, I think the church has made the grave error of depicting God as one who exacts perfection from us. We are expected to live up to a certain standard of inner righteousness. And if we don’t, well, then, there must be punishment. Someone must pay. Or even worse, to be excluded or shunned.
These kind of notions understand God to be angry and judgmental. But this perfect plan shows us otherwise! This plan reveals nothing but the love of God! The intention of God’s plan is for good, not for punishment. It’s for salvation, not damnation. It’s for healing and restoration.
The first thing we learn about God’s perfect plan through Jesus is that it’s for goodness; it’s grounded in love.
The second thing we see is that the plan is as broad as the universe, but also as specific as you. Jesus tells his disciples to proclaim this message to all nations. The word there in Greek is “ethne.” It implies people other than Jews. It means that the disciples are to carry this message to the peoples of every nation and ethnicity.
This perfect, divine plan was intended for all people of every place and time. When Jesus referred to his crucifixion, he declared, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people unto myself.” His salvation is for all.
To the disciples, there may have been some people that they would just as soon have left out from this proclamation. It was a hard pill for them to swallow that Jesus’ salvation included the Gentiles. And today, there may be certain people that we think, perhaps, should be excluded. But that is not God’s plan. God intended Jesus for the healing of the nations – for all people.
It's a broad plan, a plan to cover the universe. But it’s also as specific as you. It’s as specific as the risen Jesus calling Mary Magdalene by name. This plan comes from the Good Shepherd who seeks out the one sheep who is lost. Friends, this good and perfect plan of God tells us that we are not a number to God.
Today we celebrated the baptism of little W____ C____. In that event, W____ was bonded into God’s covenant of loving grace by name. And in that ceremony, we also looked to the scriptures. We remembered the writings of the prophets, the prophet Isaiah: “I have called you by name. You are mine.”
This is a perfect plan of loving grace. It stretches as far as the universe, but it reaches down to see you and claim you and envelop you in the healing love of God. Christ died and rose FOR YOU. His body and blood were given and shed FOR YOU.
The third thing this plan reveals is that nothing can stop it! God’s divine plan has the power to bring it to completion, against all obstacles. And that’s partly why Jesus insisted that the disciples see his hands and feet, to touch the wounds. These wounds reveal that there is nothing, nothing in all of creation that can obstruct or hinder God’s plan of salvation through Christ. Not sin, not death, not anything in creation can prevent this plan from its end goal.
In going to the cross, Jesus took the sin of the world with him. He became the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And in going to the grave, he showed us that even death cannot hinder the eternal life force of God. Jesus’ resurrection shows us that death itself has been swallowed up.
This perfect plan shows us that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord! And that’s why the greeting of Christ is about peace. When he entered their presence, he said, “Peace be with you.”
We have this peace, too. We share in this peace beyond all understanding. And we spread this peace to the world. For we know that God’s perfect plan is all good, it’s full of grace and healing and life. It’s a plan that stretches to every corner of our universe, but it never, ever overlooks or glosses over you. And it's a plan of divine salvation and life that absolutely nothing can overcome!
This has been the plan all along, since page one of Genesis to chapter 22 verse 21 of Revelation. All of the scriptures bear witness to its glory. Thanks be to God for God’s beautiful and perfect, divine plan for all things.
