Luke 24 | Wonders of His Love
If the crucifixion is the darkest moment in human history, the resurrection is the brightest!
Can you just imagine the women with their prepared spices standing at the empty tomb “perplexed,” as my version says in Luke 24:4? Perplexed indeed!
And for the two followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, walking and talking and “looking sad” (Luke 24:17)—can you imagine what it would have been like to hear Jesus Himself interpreting the Scriptures to them? They described it later as “our hearts burned within us.” Somehow I feel like that might have been an understatement!
And the others? As Jesus stood before them, in the flesh, fully, solidly there, eating fish and talking with them, Luke describes them as “disbelieving for joy and were marveling.” Talk about a buzz of excitement and wonder! What an incredible moment to be a part of.
It reminds me a little of a child’s wonder at Christmas—their eyes bright with delight as they gasp in wonder at the tree’s twinkling lights and wrapped packages beneath. It’s a miraculous moment for a child. A moment filled with joy as they receive what’s been so carefully and thoughtfully crafted for them to open on Christmas morning.
In some small way, a child’s joy is a tiny taste of the kind of wonder we can carry with us all year long, through any storm, through any suffering, through any dark night of the soul. All this because of the miraculous, marvelous gift of our Lord, prepared for us in glory and unwrapped one holy night long ago when the angels sang, and the shepherds ran to give praise to the King of heaven who came down to earth.
This is a gift that never dims, never fades, never loses its potency, for one reason and one reason only: Jesus is alive! And now He’s preparing for us another gift; the gift of eternity with Him for all who believe.
Oh, may so many more believe!
May those of us who know and love this truth be faithful with the task of proclaiming “repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name” (Luke 24:46) now and always until the whole world knows the incredible wonders of Christ’s love that came to us at Christmas!
“Joy to the World! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing, And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness, And wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love, And wonders, wonders of his love.”*