19th April 2026

Timing is an important feature of the first half of Luke 24. In verse one we are told, ‘On the first day of the week [Sunday], very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.’ Then we are told ‘…that that same day [Sunday] two of [the other disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus…’ (v.13), ‘…And what is more, it is the third day [Sunday] since all this took place’ (v.21). To them, the third day wasn’t a sign of hope: it was a quiet confirmation of disappointment. Jesus was gone. The miracle they had believed in seemed finished. Time had passed, and nothing had changed, or so they thought.

The disciple’s statement in verse 21 is not just about time: it’s about disappointment. They were saying, ‘We had hoped…but now it’s been too long.’ In the ancient Jewish mindset, the three-day mark after death represented a critical boundary between potential resurrection or resuscitation and finality. But what they missed was that the third day was not meant to signal defeat, but announce victory. All throughout Jesus’s ministry he announced that he would rise again on the third day (Luke 18:33), but grief distorted their memory, and pain clouded their understanding. Yet, the stone was already rolled away, death had already been defeated, the resurrection had already happened: they were living in a Friday mindset on a Sunday reality. 

What really makes this story powerful is that while these disciples were downcast and talking about Jesus, Jesus was walking with them. They were confused, discouraged and processing disappointment, and yet Jesus was right there, only they didn’t recognise him. We might wonder how that could be, but pain often blinds, and disappointment can reshape how we see God. They expected a conquering king and got a crucified Saviour. They expected immediate victory and didn’t understand resurrection timing. When the disciples said, ‘it is the third day since all this took place’ they thought they were announcing an ending, but they were actually standing in the middle of a miracle.

Some of us may be in the position of ‘we had hoped’: we had hoped our situation would change; we had hoped God would come through differently. We could assume silence means God isn’t working, and that delay means denial. We could interpret ‘it’s been three days’ as ‘it’s over.’ God doesn’t promise that we will not experience those times, but as with those two disciples, he does promise that Jesus will walk alongside us – we just need to recognise his presence, and realise that in God’s timing the third day is not the end, it’s where resurrection begins. 

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church