1. Initiating a New Normal: Jesus’ Teaching Strategy in the Forty Days of Appearances

Key Thought: During the forty days between his resurrection and ascension, Jesus methodically introduced his students to a new form of communication that would not require his physical presence. Through staccato physical appearances, interspersed by non-bodily forms of communication, Jesus taught them how to recognize his words without his bodily presence. They learned to recognize a peculiar increase, within their consciousness, in the density and vitality of meaning as being God’s way of speaking through the Spirit. Key Passages: Luke 24 (esp. vv. 32 and 45); Acts 1:1-9 (esp. vv.2-3); Matt. 18:18-20; 28:20; John 14:15ff. Background Passages for Further Study: Descriptions of the basic experience of hearing God (Gen. 3:8; Ex. 25:22; 29:42; Numb. 7:89; 17:4; Deut. 18:9-22; 1 Sam. 3:1-9; Is. 30:20-21; 50:4ff; 55:8-13; Jer. 23:25-32); Promises of a Return of this Experience (Is. 59:21; 54:13; 65:24-25; Joel 2:28ff).