Luke 24: 35 – 48

There are three very clear statements in the closing passage of Luke’s Gospel.

First is a clear understanding that the death and resurrection of Jesus are essential. There was no way to avoid the suffering before the cross and no way that the cross and death would destroy Jesus. For all people today this message applies. And as we are ‘in Adam’ – of one humanity – so we will be ‘in Christ’. Jesus as the complete human being reveals to us that our own suffering and death is unavoidable, but so to is our resurrection. Death is not the end.

Second is that the message to be preached is one of repentance and forgiveness. We need to turn to God if we are to have the fullness of life that Christ has. This turning is less a condition in the way we would need to meet a legal obligation or match a set of criteria to qualify for a competition. The turning is placing ourselves in a place where we can receive. We receive forgiveness – we know that the seen we have just allowed ourselves to wake up to is forgiven – which of course is a great encouragement to come to terms with more and more as the fear of retribution dissipates. But we are to receive far more than forgiveness. Forgiveness is just the beginning.

Third is that the disciples will be clothed with power from on high. This is deliberately enigmatic of Luke. It is like the cliff-hanger at the end of the first part of the series that prepares the way for the sequel. Luke knows what this power is and is preparing the reader for his second instalment – Acts. The Holy Spirit is the promised power and it is through this blessing that the message will be delivered, but more importantly the Holy Spirit will be the power that breaks humanity out of its current self-destructive patterns and into the reality of the new Kingdom – the new humanity Christ has inaugurated for us. We will be changed.

So Luke sums up succinctly the Christian message of hope. This life’s journey, whatever it may bring is essential, even ordained, but the greater life is yet to come. We start our journey towards this new life with an act of repentance, by turning towards God and discovering that whatever sin becomes illuminated by the light of Christ as we do so, is forgiven. Our journey is sustained, powered and realised by the work of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, His own power, His own Self, clothing us as we move onwards.

God is good!