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Day 350

Luke 24:33-43 "THE MASTER-TEACHER AT WORK"

Day 350 – Luke 24

Text: Luke 24:33-43

THE MASTER-TEACHER AT WORK

Jesus continued to be the Master-Teacher at work. He displayed deep knowledge of each of His Disciples. Let us consider how He taught His disciples:-

1. He sent two of His angels to speak to the women disciples.

2. However, He personally met up with Mary Magdalene to comfort and assure her that He had indeed risen from the dead. She was inconsolable prior to this special visit from the Lord.

3. He did not meet Peter and John as they ran to the tomb on hearing the news from the women disciples. He allowed them to see the empty tomb.

4. He walked with 2 of His disciples all the way to Emmaus, teaching them the Scriptures even as He walked. He restrained them from recognizing Him till He had completed all that He needed to teach them.

5. Now He teaches them in a different way once again!

Jesus was the Perfect Master-Teacher. He did not just have a solid knowledge of the Scriptures. He also knew His disciples, His pupils very well. He proved that He was the Good Shepherd who knew His sheep.

DISPELLING OTHER DOUBTS AND FEARS

Jesus knew that there were other areas of doubts that lingered in the hearts of His Disciples. One major problem of course was the lack of deep Scriptural knowledge. He had to correct that problem. This He did through expounding the Scriptures in even greater depth to His disciples.

There were other doubts. If they were to share their faith in Jesus as One who had risen from the dead, they must also be able to answer the questions that people were bound to raise up.

People could misunderstand the disciples if they spoke about the Risen Saviour. Did He really rise from the dead in the physical sense of the word? Was Jesus now a spirit being? Could that really be called a resurrection? Perhaps they were mistaken about their understanding of the resurrection?

Jesus was obviously meeting up with His Disciples for more than just personal reasons. He was obviously preparing them for the ministry ahead. The Disciples must know as much about the resurrection of Jesus as possible.

A LITERAL PHYSICAL RESURRECTED BODY

If Jesus had not risen from the dead literally, in the physical sense of the word, then what He had said previously would remain unfulfilled! It was important for the Disciples to understand the significance of believing in a literal resurrection. If Jesus had not risen physically from the dead, then He was in fact still dead! The message of the resurrection of Jesus would lose its power if Jesus had not risen from the dead – literally!

Thus it was important for Jesus to appear to His Disciples again and again, till they fully comprehended everything, especially with reference to His resurrection. Let us consider what Luke wrote in this special appearance of Jesus to His disciples.

“So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem,
and found the eleven and those who were with them
gathered together…
Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood
in the midst of them, and said to them,
‘Peace to you.’
But they were terrified and frightened,
And supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled?
And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.
Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones
As you see I have.”
Luke 24:33-39

The Disciples must have been dumbfounded at this turn of events, and particularly at what Jesus said! Luke went on to record what happened next.

“When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet.
But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled,
He said to them, ‘Have you any food here?’
So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.
And He took it and ate in their presence.”
Luke 24:40-43

The Disciples marveled! They felt joy in their hearts. However, though they were hearing and seeing Jesus truly alive – they still struggled with believing what they were seeing! Many times we hear people quote an old adage, “Seeing is believing”. Well, the Disciples saw Jesus, but they were still struggling with the believing part!

What would it take to bring about total, complete and unswerving belief? This was something that Jesus Himself had to face as He taught the multitudes. He had performed so many miracles, and yet they still struggled with the problem of accepting Him as the Messiah.

WHAT ACTUALLY BRINGS ABOUT BELIEF?

Doubts come naturally. Fear creeps in unnoticed. They exert tremendous pressure and power on people. Even disciples who had been instructed by the Lord, pre-and-post resurrection, continued to struggle with reference to the kind of faith that Jesus wanted them to have.

How is faith created? How can people find faith that would be able to overcome all obstacles? This was something that the Risen Master-Teacher still needed to address. Do we not need to address this same problem of a lack of faith?