The Last Week of Jesus's LifeSýnishorn

Sunday, April 5, 33 AD

Meanwhile, the apostles (minus Thomas) and the seventy-odd disciples have locked themselves in a room in Jerusalem for fear that the temple elite will come for them next. The two disciples enter, and the crowd exclaims that they now believe in the resurrection because a man has seen it: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

The details of Jesus’s appearance are recorded by none of the four gospel writers, but it happens at some point between the afternoon and early supper. The two disciples then recount what just happened on their little road trip, but the group doesn’t believe them.

Everyone spends the next while in confused conversation as they tuck into supper. How can our rabbi appear to Simon near Jerusalem and to Cleopas seven miles away? Then, toward the end of their hotly debated, anxiety-laden meal, Jesus appears in the middle of the crowd and speaks the word they need to hear. “Shalom to you!”

The whole lot is startled and terrified, thinking they’re collectively seeing a ghost. Jesus tries to offer comfort and assurance. “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

He shows them his wounded hands and feet. And they still don’t believe. But at least they’re now “filled with joy and wonder.” He chides them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, specifically for not believing the myriad women to whom he first appeared.

Jesus, having previously dashed without dining in Emmaus, now asks if there’s anything to eat. They give him a piece of broiled fish. He starts to eat it. They watch carefully. After all, ghosts can’t hold fish down. But this man does. As he tucks into tilapia, he brings them up to speed. “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 and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” He unpacks the details and unlocks their minds to understand the Scriptures through the lens of himself.

Two thousand years later, Jesus continues to reveal himself to billions of people around the world, inviting each of us to believe he is God and place all our hope and trust in him.

This plan has been adapted from the book, A God Named Josh: Uncovering the Human Life of Jesus Christ. Learn more at https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/466100