Day 34, On The Road To Pentecost: HE STOOD IN THEIR MIDST

Luke 24:33-43

On the road to Pentecost, Jesus revealed Himself to be alive from the dead when He stood in the midst of the eleven remaining disciples.  His first words to them were, “Peace be to you” (vs. 36). Upon seeing Jesus and hearing His words, the disciples “were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit.” (vs. 37).  It had to be a shock to them.  They had seen him die.  They saw him dead.  They saw him placed into a tomb.  They saw the tomb sealed with a large stone. They realized it was all over; and it would have been except for one little detail.  It wasn’t over at all.  In fact, it was just getting under way.  Jesus was alive.  The ending became a beginning.

Little by little Jesus would prove to His followers that He really was alive.  His life didn’t end in failure.  Death would not be the final word concerning Jesus.  He was still here to say to His followers, “Peace be to you…See My hands and my feet, that it is I Myself” (vs. 36, 39).  What a greeting, one that Jesus has been speaking into the human heart from some two thousand years now.  

As Jesus moved His disciples forward to Pentecost, He shepherded them until they were ready for what would happen in their lives.  Jesus does that, doesn’t He?  He reveals to us that He is alive and then He works in our lives to make that reality a reality in us.  His Spirit in His followers would enable them literally to abide in Christ, to live in Him, and as a part of that He would make His home in them.  

May God help us to abide in Jesus this way.  May we know Him as the resurrected Lord.  May He make His home in us.  May we all be open and receptive to His dramatic words, “Peace be to you…See My hands and my feet, that it is I Myself.”  It is a holy relationship into which Jesus invites us.  May we come with open hearts and open minds to let Jesus be Jesus in us. 

There’s an old song we used to sing way back when I was a kid.  It’s prayer and I offer it today as a prayer for all of us who have somehow, some way, been caught up into the grace of God, and made alive in Jesus,

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me— 

All His wonderful passion and purity! 

O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, 

Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

                                   Albert Orsborn, 1886-1967

“Blessed by the name of the LORD from this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.” (Psalm 113:2-3)