Luke 24:1-53

No human eye saw the resurrection. The women came early, but only to find the stone rolled away. The record of those earliest experiences is full of touching beauty. Luke alone gives us the story of the walk to Emmaus, in which disappointed disciples poured out their story, and in which at last He revealed Himself to them as the Risen One.

Much mystery still surrounds the fact of the resurrection, but the fact abides. There are suggestive points, moreover, in this account of His appearances. He distinctly denied that His resurrection was of His Spirit only, for He invited them to touch His hands and His feet. The evidences of a material body are abundant. Nevertheless, He came to their midst through closed doors, and at last, in bodily form, passed away, superior to the law of gravitation. To speak of the resurrection as supernatural is correct so long as we mean by "natural" the sphere of life in which we are bounded today. There is nothing supernatural to God. We take His facts today, and await His explanation tomorrow.

The last brief picture of Jesus in this Gospel is of His passing into the presence of God, with hands uplifted in priestly benediction.