072 - Luke 24-36-48 Issue 03 Volume 14.pdf

Volum e 03 Issue 14 Sunday April 15, 2018 The questions and answers offered are for discussion purposes. You may have different questions and answers. Remember all questions are valid and all answers must be defendable from Scripture. Your Ques ons: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 Linguistic Structure [Jesus appears] 36 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be to you." Discussion This narrative is the third appearance of the Risen Christ in Luke’s Gospel. The author does not tell us who was present at this appearance of Yeshua. One common theme that is in the appearances is that food is involved. The followers are frightened at the site of a Spirit. Yeshua shows them that it is He. The author wants to tell us that the Risen Christ was risen in the flesh. This is accomplished by Yeshua eating the fish. 3 [Proof] 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 43 and He took it and ate it before them. [Yeshua is the Messiah] 44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, [The Mission] 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 "You are witnesses of these things. Why is it important that Yeshua proves that He is flesh and blood? (v. 39) This is an interesting verse which is expanded upon in the cultural section. It was important that Yeshua proved to the followers that He was not an ordinary spirit but rather His body resurrected from the dead. The concept of spirits being on Earth was a custom of Middle Eastern people for centuries. Why does the delight and amazement of the followers prevent them from believing? (v. 41) The followers wanted to believe that Yeshua had risen from the grave. They wanted it so badly that when it happened they had a hard time believing that it occurred. Since Yeshua is the first to return from the grace and this concept was still young, the followers of Yeshua could not believe their eyes. An interesting point is if they had such a hard time believing in the resurrection and they experienced it. How hard is it for people today to believe in the event. What does it mean that Yeshua opened their minds to the Scriptures? (v. 45) This verse is referring to the connection between Yeshua’s suffering and the suffering servant chapters in Isaiah, especially Isaiah 53. The question is did the early followers of Yeshua believe that Isaiah 53 was a messianic prophecy? This is explored later. 4 Where are the followers of Yeshua when He appeared? (v. 36) From the Emmaus walk narrative that precedes this narrative the two persons who meet Yeshua were back in Jerusalem with the eleven disciples. Why are the follower startled at Yeshua’s appearance? (v. 37) Yeshua materialized in the room that the followers were in. Even though the two followers who meet the Risen Christ on the Emmaus road were with them, the reaction to the Risen Christ says that they many followers did not have believed that He had risen from the grave. So, Yeshua must prove to them that it is really Him. Discussion Yeshua’s body was transformed from a flesh body to D I SCOV E R I N G BI BLI CAL TREASURES Th e p u r p ose of Di scov er i n g Bi b l i ca l Tr ea su r es i s t o t ea ch st u d en t s of t h e Bi b l e h ow t o l ea r n t h e Bi b l e i n t h e sa m e m a n n er t h a t ou r L or d a n d Sa v i or Yesh u a d i d . Wh a t d i d p eop l e t h i n k w h en t h ey h ea r d t h e Scr i p t u r es sp ok en b y Yesh u a . L ea r n m or e f r om t h e t ea ch er s of Bi b l ei n t er a ct a t h t t p :/ / b i b l ei n t er a ct . t v a spiritual body. That is why Yeshua could appear in locked rooms. But if Yeshua’s body was a spiritual body then why does He say in verse 39 that He can be touched? This appears to be a contradiction of the idea that Yeshua’s body was now spiritual. For centuries people in the Middle East had reported that spirits visited them. Yeshua thought that it was important to distinguish himself differently than an ordinary spirit. To prove that He was flesh he ate with them. How can a spirit eat fish? A conclusion is that Yeshua was able to materialize before His followers as a flesh body. Whether He was of a physical body or just the image of a physical body is debatable. Therefore, the purpose of verse 39 might simply be to demonstrate that Yeshua was no ordinary spirit. Main/Center Point Yeshua makes His second post resurrection appearance to His followers. There is the lingering doubt of whether it is really Yeshua. This would be expected since a resurrected person had never returned from the grave. Yeshua proves Himself to them. After He does this He talks to them about his being the Suffering Servant of the book of Isaiah. Therefore, the main point of this narrative is to show Yeshua as the 5 Isaiah suffering servant. Hebraic View— putting it together This is a story which fits the category of justification of the Mithras tales becoming the Yeshua tales. There are at least four categories for the narratives of the Gospels to be placed in: 1) The Kingdom of God, 2) The Kingdom of Earth, 3) Author’s commentary, 4) Yeshua replacement of the Mithras tales. This narrative fits the last category. In the Mithras religion he died and is raised from the dead so that his followers can obtain eternal life. There are plenty of sources that can prove the connection between Mithras and Christianity and can disprove the claims. Paul must have connected with the Mithras house churches after the Jews of the town he visited rejected Yeshua as the Messiah. The ease of Paul’s work leads to this possibility. Also, what rituals and Scriptures could Paul leave with each house church? House churches of Mithras were 30 to 40 people. Early Christian house churches were 30 to 40 people. It certainly is plausible that Paul took the Mithras rituals and beliefs and changed the name of Mithras to Yeshua of Nazareth. He then updated some of origins of the rites and believes to the Hebrew Scriptures and Judaism. Mithras rose from the dead in the same manner that Yeshua did. The difference is that Yeshua did rise from the dead while the Mithras claim has no physical proof. The acceptance of Yeshua outside of Judaism leads to the conclusion of the Mithras churches being converted. Even the early church father Origen said that the Jews always believed in the tradition that Isaiah 53, the suffering servant, was about Israel’s difficulties and challenges. Israel suffered as described in the Suffering Servant chapters. Therefore, if Yeshua introduced this idea to His original disciples it was a new concept for them. They were having enough difficulty understanding Yeshua as God’s Messiah and certainly the implications of the resurrection. Messianic prophecy was not geared toward the suffering servant but rather to the idea of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. The triumph over the oppressors of Israel, who kept the people in exile, was the main reason for the LORD’s Messiah. Yeshua’s popularity during His lifetime and afterwards with the Hebrew people was because the Messianic prophecies did not occur. In other words, Yeshua was not popular with most of the Jewish world. Even though His words and actions were that of the divine He did not fulfill the expected mission. However, His popularity exploded across the Roman world. A way to explain His popularity is because Paul converted Mithras house churches into Yeshua house churches. Christianity has almost 2000 years of history where it absorbed the culture and believes of the people that it was trying to evangelize. An example is Christmas. The wreath, the tree, the poinsettias, and other customs were imported from the pagan culture and religion of the people being evangelized. This was done to make the converts feel accepted in the Christian religion. Even though these customs and beliefs were not biblical they became a part of the religion. Therefore, it is not hard to believe that this Christian concept of inclusion started with Paul converting Mithras house churches. Christianity today is not what Yeshua gave us. The creation of popes, bishops, and the rest of the church hierarchy can be attributed to Paul. He created the organization that is called the church today. Once the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed there was no longer one person who spoke for the practice of the Jewish religion. Today synagogues are connected as an association with no one person or group of overseers. What connects the synagogues is the Hebrew Scriptures? Over the centuries Christianity has separated into so many different believing groups that it is impossible to know what the religion believes anymore. The practices and acceptance of ideas about Yeshua is in a state of disorder. Pagan rituals still enter the religion and probably always will. 6 Aut hor: Rev. Dr. M ichael H. Koplitz, D.M in., Ph D.