There is a scholarly debate about the day that Christ was crucified. I have heard a pastor say that he thought the actual crucifixion took place on Wednesday so that you can account for three days in the tomb and taking into consideration when the Sabbath occurred as a high Sabbath. I personally subscribe to the traditional method of calculating. The reason is that because the Jews considered a new day starting at sunset, Thursday night would begin the first day after the observance of Passover and the implementation of the Lord’s supper. Then Friday night would be the second day. And Saturday night would be the third day which was the day that Christ was resurrected.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples, as reported in Luke 24: 39, he shared with them a unique condition of his body. He referred to himself as flesh and bones, not flesh and blood. Also, in that same chapter Jesus ate food. David Jeremiah preached that he believes our body will be like his body. We will have the option of eating, but it will not be a necessity.
When Jesus met with the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, (John 21) Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. The Greek translation helps us a lot to understand this conversation. The first two times Jesus asked if Peter had agape love or divine love for him. The third time he downgraded what he put to Peter and asked if he had brotherly love for him. A nonwritten remark from Jesus is his forgiveness of Peter for denying him. He would not have told him to feed the lambs or the sheep if he did not entrust them to Peter. This was a high moment for Peter to learn of Christ’s forgiveness personally and of his commission for the future. As part of the conversation Jesus prophesied over Peter telling him how he would die which was by crucifixion in Rome. It’s an interesting anecdote at the end of this chapter that a breakdown in communication occurred. It is reported that people began to believe Jesus would return before any of them died.
Since Mary Magdalena stayed behind at the empty tomb, she wept believing that his body had been stolen. When Jesus called her by name, she recognized that he was resurrected. Picture the moment, if you will. She had deep appreciation and love for Jesus because of his deliverance of her from demons. She became his devoted follower. Then when he called her by name, she probably reached out to him to hug his legs or feet thinking it was appropriate as done before. However, I can imagine that Jesus stepped back away from her saying, “do not touch me because I have not yet ascended to my Father.” What did that mean? We know in a number of days he would ascend to heaven. Some believe that he was still in the process of assuming his glorified body. To me that makes no sense. I think it was a very basic event. He was telling Mary that she could no longer cling to him as she did before in a human way but would learn to relate to him in a spiritual way after he ascended to heaven.
I find it remarkable that after the disciples had confirmation that Jesus was resurrected, Peter and the other disciples decided to go fishing! What? What were they thinking!? Well, their efforts were futile. They fished all night catching nothing. The next morning Jesus appeared to them again. For some reason they didn’t recognize it was Jesus! Then he told them how to catch fish which was an abundant catch. Recognizing that it was the resurrected Christ, the impulsive Peter dove into the water and swam to shore. Again, Jesus cooked some fish for them to eat. After that is when Jesus had his conversation with Peter. There is a lesson in this event, though. We can take God for granted so easily. At this Easter time, how many of us went to special services at church and then this week began a routine schedule as if Easter never occurred? The resurrection of Jesus is supposed to make a difference in our lives. Does it?
Christian Writer 