Many of us find it difficult to maintain our joy throughout the lengthy Easter Season, much as we might like to. Don’t be surprised. There is evidence that the earliest followers of Jesus, though they had firsthand experience of those exciting days, took steps to continue their enjoyment in the Lord’s triumph and its effect on their lives. One indication is that Luke’s Gospel shows how those early followers even after their individual and group experience of the risen Lord needed to gather together and share their experiences.
Though it would be understandable if the disciples and friends of Jesus had gone off after his death to grieve alone, Luke’s Gospel shows they remained together. The Gospel records that some of the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested. Their betrayal might have so filled them with shame that they preferred to be alone. Instead, their grief and confusion brought them together. As they gathered, Jesus comes into their midst just when they were listening to the account of the two disciples who encountered Jesus on the way to Emmaus. In that encounter, Jesus had been unrecognizable until the end of the meal. In this appearance, however, Jesus takes pain to ensure they recognize him. He shows them his hands and his feet still bearing the marks of his physical suffering. Then in full view of the disciples, he eats the baked fish. He is not a ghost; he is fully with them.
He explains the Scriptures to them, instructing them how “everything written about me the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” An explanation of why the Messiah had to suffer was necessary, since the common understanding of the Messiah was that he would be triumphant and his glory widely acknowledged. Then Jesus takes a further step. What happened to him in Jerusalem cannot be limited to Jerusalem nor even to Judah. It was meant for the nations, “for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” And the disciples gathered around him are the vanguard of the preaching, “You are witnesses of these things.” In a different way than the disciples then, we are witnesses today.