I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 23-24.

    One thing which is not clear from any of the Gospels is why Pilate was so reluctant to sentence Jesus to death. Based on what we know of the Roman administration of Jerusalem, the fact that Jesus was innocent of the charges does not seem a sufficient reason for Pilate’s behavior. I suspect that Pilate was concerned about stirring up actual rebellion by crucifying an innocent man with Jesus’ level of popularity. Pilate tried to pawn the issue off on Herod, who was initially interested but lost interest when Jesus failed to treat him as “important person” by either prophesying for him or otherwise doing something miraculous. In the end, it appears that Pilate agreed to crucify Jesus because he feared a riot if he did not.

    The way Luke recounts the women finding that Jesus’ tomb was empty highlights the fact that if Jesus’ disciples had made up the story about His resurrection that’s not how they would have told the story. When the women told the gathered disciples what they had seen the disciples all thought it sounded like nonsense. Luke lists several women who were present by name and that there were several more among the group who witnessed the empty tomb. I suspect that the three whom Luke mentions by name were his sources for this account. It seems likely that at least part of what seemed like nonsense to the disciples was the idea that Jesus had taught them that He would die and then rise from the dead. The women believed as soon as they were told that, the disciples were confused. The one closest to believing was Peter, who went to the tomb, saw that it was empty, then went home wondering what had happened. There is no way that the disciples would have had the women be the first to believe if that was not what had actually happened.

    In the account of the Road to Emmaus we have an exposition of what was likely what the disciples were thinking after the women told their story. The two disciples on the road as they recounted the events expressed their hope in the past tense. The fact that the women had reported that the tomb was empty, something confirmed by some of the men, did not put a spark back into their hope. Nor did the women telling them that angels had told them that Jesus was alive. Even with Jesus present (although they failed to recognize Him) and explaining how Scripture foretold this course of events they did not regain hope until they recognized Jesus in His breaking of bread. Luke makes a point of mentioning that Jesus ate a piece of broiled fish while the disciples watched. The resurrected Jesus was not some spiritual being without physical form. He was truly raised from the dead and consumed food in the presence of the disciples.