It was such a flurry of events for the women on that Sunday
morning of the Resurrection Day that it is difficult to piece together exactly
which woman was doing what at every single moment.
However, from the different accounts
given to us in the four gospels, we do know that there was more than one trip
to the tomb of Jesus, either in small groups, or as we saw with Mary
Magdalene, even alone.
At one point after Mary Magdalene had spoken with Jesus near
the tomb, Jesus actually met several other women and greeted them on the trail
between the tomb and the city. The women bowed down to him and even grasped his
feet in worship.[1]
Much of what was happening was taking place at a rapid pace
in the dim, pre-dawn light and even while it was still dark.[2] Besides that, it seems that
the disciples, although they were all in hiding and behind locked doors, were
not all in the same building. They were in a few separate locations and even in
their own homes.[3]
We also learned that the women did not immediately follow
the instructions of the angels when they were told to give the news to the
disciples that Jesus had been resurrected.[4] Nevertheless, sometime in
the course of the morning, the news did come to all of the disciples, plus the
instructions for the disciples that the angels told the women to relay to
them: “Go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into
Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’”[5]
Jesus had said the same thing to the women who had met him
on the trail and were grasping his feet. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee.
There they will see Me.”[6]
I always try to be cautious about guessing at the thoughts
of the Bible characters at any specific moment, but I cannot help but wonder if
the disciples did not at first intend to do this. I say this for a couple of
reasons. The first reason I suspect this is because later, when Jesus was eating
with the disciples, he scolded them for not believing the women and leaving for
Galilee immediately.[7] Then, even when the disciples
finally were in Galilee, some continued to doubt he was actually Jesus![8]
The second reason that I suspect that the disciples either
did not intend to go to Galilee or that they at least were extremely slow about
getting going, is that Jesus had to go look them up!
The first appearance of Jesus to some of the men seems to be
on a road that led out of Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus. As far as the
accounts tell us, this was the very first actual appearance of Jesus to some of
the men, and it was not even with the eleven closest disciples of Jesus. It was
with two other men, one named Cleopas, and one other man whose name is not even
given.
These two men were walking along the road, on their way not
to Galilee, but simply to Emmaus, which was a town about seven miles from Jerusalem.[9] As the two men walked, they were
talking about the same thing that everyone else in the region was: They were
talking about the events of the weekend in Jerusalem—the mock trial of Jesus,
the beatings, the crucifixion, and the placing of the body of Jesus in a tomb
at the cemetery, which was secured by Roman guards and by a seal placed on the stone that
covered the entrance.
And especially the two men were talking about the latest
rumors started by some of the women, the ones that said that Jesus was no longer
dead, but that he was alive. It had been said that on that very day, the third
day after he was killed, he rose from the dead!
As the two walked along, they were joined by a third man. The
man was actually Jesus, but the gospel writer Luke says that “their eyes were
kept from recognizing him.”
“What are you two talking about?” Jesus asked them.
The men stopped in their tracks, amazed. “Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem who
does not know the things that have happened there in recent days?” Cleopas
asked Jesus.
“What things?”
Incredible as it seemed to Cleopas and his traveling
companion, this stranger seemed not to know about any of the events of the
weekend.
“The events involving Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered him.
They then proceeded to describe to Jesus the entire story,
including who Jesus of Nazareth was.
“He was a prophet, powerful in speech and action before God and all the people” they told Jesus. The two men explained how they had placed their confidence in Jesus, hoping that he would be the promised one who was to be sent to redeem Israel.
“He was a prophet, powerful in speech and action before God and all the people” they told Jesus. The two men explained how they had placed their confidence in Jesus, hoping that he would be the promised one who was to be sent to redeem Israel.
But the most astounding thing were the reports from the
women. “They were at the tomb early this morning,” the two travelers told
Jesus, “but his body was not there. Then the women told us they had seen
angels, who said to them that Jesus was alive!”
The two men then told Jesus that some of the disciples had
later gone to the tomb to see if what the women said was correct. There was no
body, the disciples had said, but neither did they see Jesus alive.
Jesus listened patiently to all that the two men were
telling him, but finally could listen no more.
“O foolish ones,”
Jesus abruptly interjected. “How can your hearts be so slow in believing all
that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer
these things and then to enter His glory?”[10]
Then Jesus began to educate Cleopas and his friend.
Beginning with what Moses had said, and then the Prophets, Jesus explained to
them what was written in all the Scriptures about the Christ.
By now the three men were getting near to Emmaus. Jesus made it seem
like he was going to continue and would not be stopping at the village, but the
two men wanted to hear more of what this stranger was telling them.
They pleaded with Jesus, “Stay with us, for it is nearly
evening and the day is almost over.”
Jesus consented to do so, and soon was at the table with
them to have a meal. Jesus took some of the bread, spoke a blessing over it,
and handed each one a piece.
When he did this, the two men instantly recognized him.
“Their eyes were opened,” Luke writes.
But then, just like that—Jesus was gone. He disappeared from
their sight. In retrospect, the two travelers realized that they should have
recognized Jesus well before.
“Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke with us
on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” they asked one another.
Their purpose for going to Emmaus was now forgotten. They
got up and returned on the very same route that they had just taken—seven miles
back to Jerusalem. When they arrived back in the city, they found the eleven
disciples no longer in separate places, but now gathered together.
Apparently, at some point during that day, Jesus had also
appeared to Simon Peter,[11] so all the disciples had come
together to discuss what this could mean. They were not so quick to believe the
women when they spoke of the risen Christ, but now that Peter had also seen
him, this was evidently enough to begin to convince them. The two men from Emmaus also
then were able to share with the disciples about their own extended
conversation with Jesus.
Some of the disciples seemed now to be convinced that Jesus
was alive, but the two men also met with some skepticism. Some of the disciples
did not believe them.[12] Perhaps like the
disciples responded to the testimony of the women who had spoken with the
angels, the words of these two men seemed like “nonsense.”
Then, while the two travelers were meeting with the eleven
and whoever else may have been present, Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst.
Originally, we remember that the instructions that Jesus sent to the disciples
was that they were supposed to go to Galilee, and that he would meet with them
there. But it seems that when Jesus saw the hesitancy of the
disciples to do this, he must have thought that he would have to modify these
directives. These men simply were not moving!
“Why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Jesus rebuked them,
“Look at my hands and my feet! Touch me and look at me! A spirit does not have
flesh and bones!”
Perhaps the disciples were so hesitant to believe because it
simply all seemed too good to be true. At least that is how Luke makes it sound
when he writes, “They were still in disbelief because of their joy and
amazement.”[13]
Jesus then asked
them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
He thought that if they would see him eat something, it
would help them to see that it was indeed him—alive. After all, the two
travelers from Emmaus recognized him during this act of taking a meal together.
Perhaps it would help again.
*************************
In the end, the disciples eventually did make it up to
Galilee, but we are not told just how long it took. Even by the time they did
make it up there however, not all of them were believing in the resurrection. And
for those who did, they still were cautious about committing themselves too
strongly. It actually took Jesus forty days of appearances to the disciples[14] to finally convince them
of the resurrection. It also took several rebukes from Jesus.
I would like to criticize the disciples for their slowness
to believe, and for their cynicism. But the truth be told, I see too much of
myself in these men to make that condemnation. Like them, I also tend to view any claim
that someone presents to me with an initial inherent skepticism. I am not quick
to accept what someone tells me, and I even sometimes catch myself simply
assuming that they are trying to deceive me in some way with absolutely no
reason to think so.
In the world in which we live, I actually believe that a bit
of skepticism is a healthy thing. Scammers and deceivers are everywhere. They
come to us by telephone and the mail, also by email and even in person.
Everywhere there are people who are seeking new and unique ways to get the
money that is in our pockets into their pockets.
Even most of the religious scams are done primarily for
money. If the deceiver can get you to believe in his or her religion or cause,
then they will convince you that you must also contribute.
A bit of skepticism may be a healthy thing, but one can
easily let this rule his or her life. God understands this about us, and I actually think that he usually comes
to us in small steps as he did to the disciples to convince them that he had
risen from the dead.
He does not usually lay everything out on the line for us to
make a decision to accept or reject, but he puts us in small situations to cause us to question some of our assumptions. He puts a person in our life who affects
us in a certain way. He gives to us a health crisis, or a financial crisis. In
it all, he is trying to show us that he is worthy of our confidence.
At least this is what God has done for me. He presented me
with various situations where I would have to take him at his word. I had no
other evidence. I simply had what he told me in the Bible. Every time he proved
himself true. Every single time I could see that he meant what he said and that
his promises were reliable.
And with every piece of evidence, my belief grew. I do not
mean to say that I am done growing. I still have doubts. I am still a skeptic
at heart, but even greater than that, I have become a believer.
God says “Taste
and see that the Lord is good.” It is when we have tasted that goodness of the
Lord that we will begin to take our refuge in him and be blessed. [15]
Among all of the original disciples, I believe Peter was one
of the biggest of the skeptics. There were a few others however. Do you remember
Nathanael’s first reaction to what was told to him about Jesus?
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”[16]
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”[16]
And of course we remember “Doubting Thomas,” whose reaction
to the news of the resurrected Jesus was, “Unless I see the nail marks in his
hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I
will not believe.”[17]
Peter only decided to become a follower of Jesus after
he saw Jesus do something in his life that was unexplainable by logic. He had a
taste of the goodness of Jesus, then became a disciple. [18]
And it was Peter who wrote the following words: “Rid
yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Like
newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in
your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”[19]
Do you see that first comes the taste, and then comes the commitment
to follow and to grow in our salvation?
Jesus is alive!
You don’t believe it?
Taste, and see that the Lord is good.
[1]
Matthew 28:9
[2]
John 20:1
[3]
John 20:10
[4]
Mark 16:8
[5]
Mark 16:7
[6]
Matthew 28:10
[7]
Mark 16:14
[8]
Matthew 28:17
[9]
Luke 24:13
[10]
Luke 24:25-27
[11]
There is nothing mentioned of this in any of Peter’s letters, but Paul does
also refer to this in 1 Corinthians 15:5
[12]
Mark 16:13
[13]
Luke 24:41
[14]
Acts 1:3
[15]
Psalm 34:8
[16]
John 1:46
[17]
John 20:25
[18]
Luke 5:1-11
[19]
1 Peter 2:1-3
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