Beloved in Christ,
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
“ He is not here, he has risen!. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee. The son of man must be delivered in to the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” Luke 6:7.
Jesus told the disciples many times that He would be killed and then be resurrected after three days. When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, He didn’t knock at the locked door. His resurrected body was different and hence He did not enter the room through the door at all. He entered through it or through the wall (John 20: 19). The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus reassured them He was in flesh and bones (Luke 24: 36-40). The risen Jesus was not a ghost, not a “force”, nor a feeling. To reassure the disciples that He was the same man they had known, Jesus showed them the scars in His hands, feet and side. His resurrected body had scars. What is the message of His scars? He is more than a man. He is the second person of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Only the death of the sinless son of God could atone for our sins.
Jesus encouraged the disciples to study what had been written about Him in the scriptures. “This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). What is the message we are given about Jesus Christ in the Bible?. We have the Scripture the disciples had and more- the Old and New Testaments. These Scriptures tell us who Jesus is, why he came to earth and what He wants us to do. Jesus told the disciples that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations. “You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24: 47-48). What is the message we are given to proclaim today? We are witnesses of the repentance and forgiveness that we have received in His name.
Jesus also told the disciples that He was going to send the Holy Spirit to them as the Father had promised. “…But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). What is the message of this promise for us? We too are to go out clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. Have you personally received these messages from the risen Christ? He still bears the scars that reveal His victory over sin and death. The Bible reveals Jesus’ identity and His mission – past, present and future. It reveals our identity and mission too. We are His disciples and we are His witnesses. The power of the Holy spirit has been given to us so that we might tell others of the repentance and forgiveness.
May God bless you all
Yours in Christ,
Rev. C. C. Sabu
