In finishing Luke’s Gospel, we see that the Resurrection is not a ghostly myth but a physical reality that affirms the goodness of our own bodies and our physical presence in the world. We recognize that Jesus opens our minds to Scripture not for mere head knowledge, but for heart transformation, turning us into witnesses who carry His love to all nations—from our neighbors to our enemies. We understand that the Ascension is the ultimate victory, placing Jesus at the right hand of the Father where He lives to intercede and pray for us personally. Ultimately, we are called to live victoriously rather than defeated, knowing that because Christ has conquered sin and death, we are “clothed with power” to tell the story of His grace to the entire world.

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Good to be with you on this Friday morning.

It’s good to finish our time together in Luke. We’ve been in Luke for a little bit—we took a little break during Advent, but now, after many months, we finish our time together in Luke’s Gospel.

Just as a reminder, I’m going to take a little break after this. I’ll come back with a reflection for Ash Wednesday, but I’ll probably take a break through the first couple weeks of March. In the first week of March, Holly and I are going to take a little trip for our 25th anniversary, so we’ll be out of town for about a week. I should be back around the 16th of March—that’s my anticipation right now.

So enjoy a little break, but keep reading your Bible. Just because I’m not doing Rooted for a little bit doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read your Bible. Take time to read your Bible, and we’ll be catching up back soon.

Let’s finish out Luke, starting with Luke chapter 24, verse 36 and following.

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While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

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.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

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We see a conversation Jesus has with them post-resurrection, and we see his ascension. There are a lot of interesting things we can take away from this time with them.

The Physicality of Jesus

First, as we see repeatedly in the Gospels, we see the physicality of Jesus here. He says, “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” When he’s with them, he showed them his hands and his feet, and then he said, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate.

Luke is going out of his way to show us that Jesus is not just alive, but he’s alive in the flesh. There is a fleshly nature to him. There’s a body to him. This is what Paul calls in his writings a “spiritual body.”

Jesus has a physicality to him, and this is important. We are not just spirits—our physical nature matters. Our physical bodies, our physicality, matters. We are not just disembodied spirits. The concept of being a disembodied spirit is the early church heresy of Gnosticism. We’re not Gnostics. We are physical. We believe in the physicalness of us.

What This Means for Us

Our physical reality matters. What does that mean?

It means how we take care of our bodies matters. This is a “do what I say, not what I do,” but we should eat well, we should exercise—things like that. Our physical presence matters.

I believe there’s something important about physically being in church. Physically gathering together as individuals. Physically taking the body and blood of Christ. These things matter. These are holy, important, good things.

Physically serving matters. We live in an age where one of the greatest struggles is this notion of the disconnectedness of our existence—that I can have a virtual life that is so far removed and disconnected from my physical life.

I tell preachers this when I do teachings for them: A preacher shouldn’t say anything on his or her social media that they wouldn’t say from the pulpit. I would never say anything to you in Rooted in Christ, I would never say anything in a blog that I may write, that I wouldn’t say in a Bible study or from the pulpit.

There are not two Andys. There’s not online Andy and physical Andy. There’s just Andy.

I love that great line about Abraham Lincoln: “If I were two-faced, do you think this is the face I would wear?”

So our physical life matters. Take care of yourself.

Opening Our Minds to Understand Scripture

I like what it says in verse 45: that he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

The Bible is not just to be read. I talked about this last week in my sermon. The Bible was not given just for head knowledge. The Bible was given for heart transformation.

We don’t just read the Bible to learn things—to learn facts and knowledge and things like that. We don’t just read the Bible for what we can know. We read the Bible for how we can grow, for how our hearts can be transformed.

Wesley called “searching the scriptures” a means of grace. In the Wesleyan tradition, reading Scripture is something we do where the Lord gives us grace and we grow. It’s almost like a sacrament. When we read the Bible, we are transformed.

This means that one of the first things you need to do when you read Scripture is to pray—to ask the Lord to open your mind so that you can understand and grow and learn and have knowledge.

Our minds need to expand. We need to always be learning. Wesley wanted his people to be educated. So we need to always be expanding our minds, asking God to open our minds so that we can learn.

Jesus opened up their minds and taught them the Scriptures, and they understood how it all had to be fulfilled and all had to be known.

Witnesses to All Nations

Then he tells them that “you will be my witnesses to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

All nations.

There’s not a part of the world, there’s not a place in the world, there’s not a people in the world that Jesus doesn’t love. You’ll never meet a person in the world that Jesus doesn’t love. There’s not a part of the world that Jesus doesn’t love.

So we’re called to take the good news everywhere. I think it’s in Acts—we see this story expanded in Acts, because the ascension is where Acts starts. We see this expanded: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the world.

We’ve got to go all over—to our hometown, to the world, to the folks we like, to the Samaritans (the folks we don’t like). We’ve got to go everywhere.

Jesus died for the whole world. As that C.S. Lewis quote goes: “You will never meet anyone in whose eyes Christ did not die.”

That matters.

The Ascension: Jesus Interceding for Us

Jesus shares these things with them, and then he ascends.

The ascension is something we often don’t focus on. It seems almost like a tack-on, something that kind of happens, but it’s not a big deal. But it is a big deal.

When Jesus ascends, he ascends to heaven, ascends to the throne of his Father. Scripture says he now sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf.

Think about it. Right now, Jesus is praying for you. Right now, at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is praying for you. He’s pulling for you. He is giving voice to your needs, to your concerns. Jesus is advocating for you.

He sits at the right hand of the Father, and he’s praying for you.

No matter what’s going on in your life, at least Jesus is praying for you. If nothing else, Jesus is pulling for you, even if nobody else is.

That’s an important thing for us to realize. The ascension is not just a tack-on, but it shows that now Jesus reigns in power and in glory, and he’s there with the Father advocating for us.

Tell the Story

This is our story to tell, friends.

One of my mentors used to always say, “Don’t try to be too cute on Easter. Just tell the story.”

Just tell the story. The resurrection is what it’s about.

Death has been defeated. Sin has been conquered. We are free from sin, death, and the grave. Jesus has defeated all these things.

No matter what we face, Jesus is victorious over that, and through Jesus, we can have the victory.

So don’t live defeated—live victorious lives because of the work of Jesus Christ. Because of what he has done and how he has conquered sin, death, and the grave, we can have freedom and victory through Jesus Christ.

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I’ve enjoyed Luke with you. It’s been a fun journey going through Luke’s Gospel. I’ll see you in about a month or so. Enjoy the break. I’m looking forward to a little rest and time to recharge.

Don’t worry—I’ll still be at church. I’ll still be working. I’m just going to take a break from Rooted. I’ve got a lot going on right now, so I’m just going to take a little break from this to give me a little slack in my schedule, and then I will be back soon on Rooted in Christ.

See you soon. Have a great day.