Bible Study

LUKE 24:36-43 & JOHN 20:19-31 It’s important for us as we start to keep making sure that we understand the time references. As the passages in John 20 and Luke 24 open, what’s happening is still taking place on the day of resurrection. I know I keep coming back to that but it’s vital for us to remember if we want to really be able to get into the minds of the disciples. For us, time is moving on. This coming Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter; Easter seems as if it was a long time ago. For the disciples – it’s the same day. Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Jesus was on the morning of the day of resurrection, the encounter Cleopas had with the risen Jesus was mid to late afternoon on the day of resurrection. These events seem to be taking place on the evening of the day of resurrection. It’s still only a few hours after the empty tomb was discovered and after reports of the resurrection started to circulate. So the heads of the disciples are still spinning, so to s...

Part 2: Luke 24:13 -35 The passage begins by centering us in time. It tells us that the events that are going to be described happened “that same day.” So we are still on the day of resurrection. It’s a little bit later, probably mid-afternoon. The passage centres around the experience of Cleopas and his companion, who is unnamed. Cleopas is (or was) apparently a disciple of Jesus; he was a part of the group that travelled with Jesus. So, for the sake of greater context for understanding the rest of the gospel story (and all of the Gospels) what we learn from this is that Jesus had more than 12 disciples, regardless of how often we speak of Jesus and the Twelve. Cleopas doesn’t appear to have been a disciple of great note. He is never mentioned in any other passage of Scripture; all that we know about him comes from this one story – and that isn’t very much. We know even less of Cleopas’s companion, who goes unnamed in this story and really adds little to the story, except perhap...

Part 1 – JOHN 20:1-18 Why do you think none of the Gospel writers include a description of the actual resurrection, but rather only of the discovery of an empty tomb? Although the names are different, in all of the Gospels the first to arrive at the tomb of Jesus and discover that it was empty were women. In John, it’s only Mary Magdalene. What is the significance of this? What image do you have of Mary Magdalene? Why do you think John includes such intricate details about the grave clothes of Jesus? Can you think of anything important about the fact that Mary refers to Jesus as “Rabbouni” (or Teacher)? MY THOUGHTS: None of the four Gospel writers offer any actual description of the resurrection – reasonably enough, since no one saw Jesus leave the tomb. Exactly how it happened, or what Jesus’ own experience of resurrection was like, is never discussed. It seems that the Gospel writers were content to leave the details of the resurrection as a mystery. T...