Luke 24:36-49
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “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.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
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 and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Grace, mercy and peace beyond to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The lesson for meditation is St. Luke chapter 24, verses 36 to 49, the Gospel lesson which is already been read, I ask you what is the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament? Through the years, some have suggested that the New Testament is all we need, because the Old Testament is well, kind of old. So you just need to new but it's a little hard to see what the new is actually fulfilling. Without that preliminary sketch of the old as the other extreme, others have carried the old forward into the new, trying to keep for instance, all those eating regulations in the Book of Leviticus, even though Christ clearly said he has fulfilled the old and secondarily Well, it's hard for me to believe that the God who gives godly pleasure really wants us to do without bacon and pulled pork until Jesus comes again. So again, we asked what is the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Testament? Perhaps St. Augustine, your father in Christ put it best when he said, the new is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed? That is to say what is sketched in black and white in the old is fulfilled in living color, in the New Testament, especially in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Please join me then to look at Luke 24. With this theme in mind, thus it is written. Thus, it is written in Genesis 14 That Melchizedek, the priests, the priests, without generation, a priest, unlike any other visited Abram, he brought bread and wine and he blessed Abram, and then he simply disappeared, never to be heard from again. Who was this mysterious Melchizedek in Genesis 14? Is it possible that this Melchizedek blessing Abraham, offering bread and wine is the pre Incarnate Christ, that is Christ before he took on flesh and blood. And then four times in the Bible, we read that Jesus was a priest, in the order of Melchizedek, that is to say, a priest, unlike any other for he is the high born of all ages, be conceived by the Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. And thus, in today's Gospel, the new and greater Melchizedek, the risen Christ stands among his disciples that first Easter Sunday and he says, Peace to you, a blessing from the new Melchizedek. These disciples, having seen his passion, were, of course startled and frightened. Indeed, they thought they saw a spirit, we would say, a frightening sort of bad ghost. And then he said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts, and then see in this gospel lesson, the emphasis on Jesus own flesh and blood, he says, see my hands, and by feet, a spirit does not have flesh and bones, and then repeating, and in feet. So it's all about this true flesh and blood of Christ, the new and greater Melchizedek, fully God, fully man, crucified for our sins, and yet risen from the dead, and now standing among them in the flesh, to bring the peace that only Jesus can bring. And this incarnation, this flesh and bones, his hands and feet is good news for you and me, and other church fathers said, Christ cannot redeem what he has not assumed. Again, he cannot redeemed what he has not assumed. So he has to assume your flesh and blood like you in every way, except without sin, that he may take that flesh and blood, put it on the cross to redeem you from your sins, and then rise from the dead and say to you, your sins are forgiven, a blessing from the new Melchizedek, who also comes in bread, and why. Thus, it is written in Psalm 74, that the Lord will crush the head of Leviathan, Leviathan to the ancient mind was that big sea creature, perhaps a whale, the CIA always carried the connotation of the unknown and of course of death. As an active duty Navy chaplain, I can say that things have not changed that much. But we can see Leviathan with radar these days to crush the head of Leviathan says that Jesus will be victorious over death. And so in today's Gospel lesson, Jesus showed them his hands, he showed them his feet, and then he said, you have here anything to eat. They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it. On one level, this is important, for he says that a ghost does not have flesh and bones and of course, a ghost could not actually eat and consume a piece of fish. But there's a deeper theological meaning here fulfilling Psalm 74 that he will crush the head. of the Leviathan, that is to say, especially as you're read Psalm 74, and the psalmist rehearses God's mighty acts of salvation in this creation, that to eat something shows total mastery and power over it. And so we read in Isaiah, for instance, that Jesus will swallow up death forever, but a powerful image of the triumph of the risen Christ. In Genesis three he crushes the head of the serpent, in Psalm 74, he walks on the head of the leviathan, but then in Isaiah of equal mastery, he's going to swallow up death forever, and it's a good thing for you and I, as we're born according to our natural birth, we will be swallowed up by death itself. Think of that image of the power of swallowing something and eating it means total victory preceded by death, and then a festive banquet. Christ has conquered your sin, Christ has conquered eternal death for you, and risen from the dead. He says, not only are your sins are forgiven, but Come, come to the feast and eat my body and my blood in with an under bread and wine. Yes, this is a victory meal in the Lord's Supper, is it not? Not in the secular sense of victory, but theologically, it's a victory over sin, death, and the devil commemorated and received as you receive His true Body and Blood. Thus, it is written of old, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Think through that trio just for a moment, Moses, prophets, songs from Moses, the great law giver promised that there would be a new and greater prophet who would fulfill all that Moses foreshadows the entire sketch of the prophets, the major and minor prophets writing over hundreds of years, oh, they thundered mightily with the law, overturning kings calling Israel to repentance. But they also made it very clear that it was repentance for the sake of forgiveness in the coming, suffering Messiah. And, of course, the Psalms, the very prayer book of Christ Himself, where you can see Christ at work in every single Psalm that he himself prayed, and that it gives you a voice to pray as well. These all come together in Luke's gospel at the Transfiguration, where he saw Moses and the prophets standing on that mountain, and of course, the voice from the father giving a benediction overall saying, This is my son, here, II. Yes, thus it is written, that he must open their minds to understand the scriptures, that all these things, Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, they all come together, they are distilled as it were, into the flesh and blood of Christ. And then we read in Galatians, that this Christ was born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, again, born under the law to redeem those under the law. So you and I, of course, are born under the law. And that simply means, if we have a birthdate, on that tombstone, we will also eventually have a death date on that tombstone, for we are born in sin, and bound to die. But Christ being born under the law, as the Son of God and son of man, has kept the law for us. So in Luke's gospel, he's born during a census upon for Caesar, in Bethlehem for this census, he is in the temple at age 12. Keep in keeping the law before God and man not for himself, but for you, in his public ministry, miracles preaching, he's doing it all for you, and keeping the law where you have broken the law and taking all your sins, and suffering the wrath of the Father on the cross according to the law, and then rising from the dead to say, All is fulfill and your sins are forgiven. Thus it is written, and so it must be fulfilled, that that new and greater Jonah would rise from the dead on the third day, recall Jonah, my personal favorite sailor in the Old Testament, because he went overboard and at least came back after the man overboard. Every call, he was called to preach to Nineveh up, he said, I'll have none of that God had something else in mind, off to the sea in the belly for three days and then recall that when he finally made it to Nineveh, the people and even the king in Nineveh, repented of their sins. This black and white sketch is fulfilled in living color in the new and greater Jonah. Jesus, he must rise from the dead on the third day. For in Genesis the third day is the day that they begin to create things that have a death and life cycle such as plants, and Jonah is the day that this reluctant preacher now becomes the bold preacher willing to die for the sake of preaching the truth and Hosea said that for two days, the Lord will crush us. But on the third day, yes, the third day, the day of resurrection, the Lord will bless us that we too, may rest in peace. And so it all begins in the Old Jerusalem, that walled city where Jesus suffered and died. But starting here on the third day, and Luke 24, and through Pentecost, it's going to go beyond the old Jerusalem to the New Jerusalem, the Church, which as you know, is wherever Christ is preached on and believed, and wherever his sacraments are given there Christ is present, and the preaching of Jonah, the preaching of Jesus, the preaching of the Apostles, it all continues today, through pastors and people who say that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. And then all that was written to bold, is fulfilled in the lively propagation of the gospel. Well, may I suggest then that St. Augustine was right, the new is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed, all bolstered by that very important phrase, Thus it is written, therefore it's the word of God, it simply cannot be changed. And there are a few other things that are written for you this third Sunday of Easter. And always, it is written that baptism now saves you not by the circumcision of the skin, but as circumcision of the heart to make you God's own child. All the law, the prophets and the Psalms are distilled into the words, I forgive you all your sins, but the point of preaching is to give you that forgiveness. And it is written that on a night when he was betrayed, he took bread and wine which are his body and blood and the new and greater Passover, NOW comes to you to commemorate his death, and to give you life and salvation, and thus it is written and so are you. For your name is written in the Book of eternal life. God granted unto you for Jesus sake, amen. Lilia Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai