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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever awakened the next day after a very big event, with your head still spinning? Do you suppose that’s how the disciples and closest friends of Jesus Christ awakened the Monday after that Passover/Easter miraculous Resurrection Day? John and Luke, both tell us Jesus appeared, miraculously, to many of them who had gathered on Sunday evening as they tried to make sense of the rumors they’d heard of the disappearance of Jesus’ body from the tomb!
John records they had the doors and windows of the place where they met locked. (John 20:19) Why? They were now ‘most wanted men’ because they were known as the disciples of Jesus and His body was missing from the tomb, thus they were suspects of grave robbing, even though the tomb had been sealed and closely guarded. (Matt. 27:62-66)
John reports ‘the disciples were there together’ but we know Thomas was absent. (John 20:24) I’ve often wondered if some of the women who had been at the cross and gone early to the tomb and had seen the angel, came to tell the disciples their story? (Matt. 28:1-10) That Sunday evening they all desperately wanted to hear every story that could help them understand what had really happened that resurrection day.
Have you ever been in a room with several people all talking at once, and the volume of voices just kept rising as people struggle to be heard? I suspect that’s how it was in that locked room. I also suspect they had far more questions than answers. I think it’s probable Mary Magdalene was in that locked room, retelling her remarkable story of that Sunday. She had been the first to report to Peter and John, early that morning, that she’d been to the tomb, and it was empty! (John 20:1,2) Peter and John had rushed to the tomb and found it as Mary had told them…rock rolled back, grave clothes but no body of Jesus. (John 20:3-10)
Later that Sunday morning Mary had not only seen, but she had a conversation with and even touched the risen Jesus! (John 20:11-18) So, it would surprise me if Mary was NOT in that locked room that Sunday evening to give the full description of her experiences that day and try to answer all questions from the disciples. (John 20:19)
Luke reports that Cleopas and another person had been walking on the road to Emmaus earlier that day and they also came rushing into the Sunday evening gathering because they had quite a story to tell! (Luke 24:33-35) Their report was as astounding as Mary’s. As they were walking along the road, a third person joined them and engaged their conversation about the rumors swirling around Jerusalem that Sunday. This third person seemed very knowledgeable about the Scriptures and when they stopped to eat and He prayed, they realized it was HIM… the resurrected Jesus! They couldn’t wait to tell the rest of the disciples what they had experienced. (Luke 24:13-35)
Can you imagine the frenzy of that Sunday evening gathering behind locked doors? And while they were all clamoring and probably shouting, they evidently did not even notice that over there in the corner someone was standing outside the conversation. How He had come into the locked room, no one could explain, but as He began to walk into the discussion the noise ceased to a whisper. Fear gripped their hearts and minds. He spoke: “Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet. It is I, myself! Touch Me and see…” (Luke 24:38,39)
What appeared to be Jesus, alive and healed from His beatings and crucifixion, was standing before them, holding out His hands bearing scars.
Have you ever had an experience where your eyes and ears saw and heard clearly, but your mind refused to believe or attempt to understand what you were experiencing? Let’s remember that Peter, James and John had experienced something like this only a few weeks before when Jesus had been transfigured before them, and they had seen Moses and Elijah.
God’s intention had been that transfiguration experience should have prepared them for this resurrection day, but it didn’t. They couldn’t catch their breath, they couldn’t speak, they couldn’t even think of good questions to ask… they all stood there dumbfounded. It was impossible, but they were looking at and listening to their friend Jesus, who they knew had died in His horrible crucifixion, yet standing before them now, fully resurrected from the dead, was JESUS!!
We really don’t have much more detail of what took place that Easter Sunday night or how long they stayed together in that locked room or what Jesus explained to them. Eventually I presume Jesus left, as He had come… He simply disappeared.
His resurrected body was different from the earthly body which had been emaciated in the beatings and crucifixion. Oh He still had some scars, but the rest of His body was healed, yet normal earthly restrictions like walls and doors seemed irrelevant to Him.
As He left them, there is no indication Jesus told them when or where they’d see Him again. John tells us that before Jesus left them that Sunday evening, He said: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) I believe that Monday morning when they awakened to face the day after Resurrection Day, that statement was stirring their hearts and minds to very deep reflection on why God the Father had sent Jesus to earth and what it might mean that Jesus was now sending them out into their world?
The Gospel accounts tell us the disciples encountered this miraculously resurrected Jesus several more times over the next 40 days, (Acts 1:3) and so over the next few days we’ll look at each of these miraculous events. Why?
Because these followers of Jesus needed to be convinced, beyond any doubt, that Jesus was physically alive. Everything hinged on that fact. But they also needed a much deeper understanding about what it all meant? They would be the people who would explain it to the world and yet for them, on that Monday after Easter, I believe their greatest need and desire was simply more time with resurrected Jesus. They had so many questions.
In closing today have you considered how similar we are today, the Monday after Easter 2025, to those disciples? If you consider yourself a Christian, then you have much the same privilege and responsibility as they had. You and I are sent by Jesus to tell the world the story of Jesus.
So, let’s pause with them and I have two questions for you, my friends:
* How do you explain your understanding of the resurrection of Jesus? When’s the last time you explained the resurrection of Jesus Christ to someone who doubted it?
* How does that Passover/Easter weekend 2000 years ago affect how you live your life today? Does your belief or dis-belief in the resurrection of Jesus make any difference on this Monday?
I don’t know if the friends of Jesus sang any songs that Sunday night but on Monday, I think this powerful song of reflection is what they were thinking about…!
Today’s Scripture: John 20:1-23.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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