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Good Monday after Resurrection Day to you my dear “Walking with Jesus” friends.
I wonder what happened spiritually all over our world this past weekend? I’m sure more people participated in Christian worship services via the internet and cell phones than any weekend in human history, due to the Coronoavirus ‘social distancing’ and ‘shelter in place’ effects in almost every country.
Do you think it’s possible the Holy Spirit may have used the global internet availability of the story of Jesus this past weekend combined with the privacy and ease of access from home to draw perhaps 10 million people to Jesus Christ? Now think about that my friends! And because most of those worship services are archived on various sites, and people who experienced Jesus for the first time may be forwarding those links to others, can you imagine the ‘viral’ spread of the Gospel today and this week?
My friends, it could be this week there is a spiritual “Great Awakening” happening around the world that dwarfs anytime in history and is much larger than anything anyone could have imagined! Could there be 100 million people come to Jesus this week as new believers in Jesus who are experiencing the life-changing, powerful work of the Holy Spirit in their lives for the first time, are so excited they are contacting their friends and family and forwarding links to Christian sites which will draw millions more people to Jesus? It could be a modern, global, spiritual tsunami!
What a great contrast to what Monday was like after that Passover/Easter weekend in which Jesus died and rose from the dead! None of the Gospel writers tell us much about that Monday, but because of what happened the Sunday evening before, I don’t think it’s difficult for us to imagine, it was a day filled with great excitement for Jesus’ closest friends and followers.
You may recall that as Jesus and His disciples left that upper room on Thursday evening and went to the Garden of Gethsemane, it was there they had a few final moments together. As Judas the betrayer came to that garden with an armed mob and arrested Jesus, Matthew tells us “Then all the disciples deserted Jesus and fled.” (Matt. 26:56) We don’t know where they all went, but we don’t see much of them again in the Gospel accounts until Sunday night.
We know Peter and John followed Jesus and the mob to the High Priest’s home where Jesus was questioned. It was there Peter denied Jesus three times and ran into the night, overwhelmed by his shameful weakness. Only John continued to follow Jesus through that Thursday night and was an eye witness of Jesus’ crucifixion, as John stood with Mary His mother and a few other women, near His cross on Golgotha hill. John and some of those women also followed Jesus’ body to the tomb, and then late that Friday afternoon, they went to the homes where they were staying for Passover weekend. Luke writes: “They rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandments.” (Luke 23:56)
In the Easter Sunday Gospel accounts we know that Mary Magdalene and some of the women went early to the tomb, found it empty and actually saw the risen Jesus! (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20) We also know Peter and John ran to the empty tomb, saw the burial linens, but did NOT see Jesus. (John 20) Finally, we know Cleopas and one other follower of Jesus walked with a stranger on the road to Emmaus, and as they were eating together, suddenly discovered it was the risen Jesus! (Luke 24)
We can only imagine how frantically the men and women scurried around Jerusalem and the surrounding area, that Sunday, looking to find and tell their friends the remarkable, shocking news, that Jesus was not dead! As illogical as it sounded, Jesus was in fact alive and miraculously healed from His horrific beatings and the crucifixion!
It appears they had the idea that it would be great to gather that Sunday evening and share their personal stories of what they had experienced that Easter morning. Both John and Luke give us a glimpse into that Sunday evening gathering and the miracle which happened there, that changed their lives forever!
Perhaps they gathered in the same large upper room where they had been on Thursday evening for the Passover meal. We don’t know for sure, but it needed to be large enough for the disciples, the two who’d met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and we presume the women. Luke writes the two who had met Jesus on the Emmaus road “…returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying “It is true”! The Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then the two told what had happened on their way and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread.” (Luke 24:33)
Now when Luke says “the Eleven” he doesn’t mean all 11 of the remaining disciples were present, but rather than saying “His disciples” he’s wanting to remind us that Judas is no longer among the group of those who followed Jesus closely as His disciples. Luke had sometimes in the past referred to them as “the Twelve”, as in Luke 18:31 when Jesus told His disciples about what would happen in Jerusalem over this Passover weekend. But things had changed now with Judas’departure.
John tells us those who gathered that Sunday evening did so fearfully. “…the disciples were together with the doors and windows locked for fear of the Jews…” (John 20:19) This was the first time they were together since they had all scattered into the Thursday night shadows when the armed mob showed up in the Garden of Gethsemane and arrested Jesus. While only John is recorded as having been an eyewitness of the crucifixion, I think it’s safe to say all had heard the bloody details and probably they had all found a way to inconspicuously be in the crowds watching from a distance.
That was Friday morning, this is now Sunday evening. Can you imagine the fear for their lives? It was only reasonable that those who had killed Jesus would want to exterminate His group of closest followers too. There were likely informants throughout the city who’d been paid by the religious leaders to find and detain, by force if necessary, any and all of these friends of Jesus. This is why, as they gathered that Sunday evening, it was behind locked doors and shuttered windows. Let’s join them, several of them all talking at once, so excited to tell their story.
It is not difficult for me to imagine. It’s almost a frenzy as they shared their stories about what they had experienced that Sunday morning. An earthquake, angels, the large stone rolled away from the cave-tomb opening, terrified guards, strips of linen…it was all so mysterious! But then the stories of the women, and especially Mary, who thought He was the gardener, until He spoke her name! (John 20:1-9) The story from Cleopas and his friend, who walked and talked with the risen Jesus for a long time going to Emmaus, but didn’t know it was Him until He broke the bread…and then suddenly disappeared right in front of their eyes. (Luke 24:13-32)
Have you ever been in large family reunion or a party where there’s so much excitement and lots of talking and laughter that no one notices something significant happening in a corner of the room? That’s what happened here… no one had noticed the Resurrected Jesus had shown up in the room! I think He just watched and listened for a while and then slowly walked into the chattering group. Luke writes: “While they were talking about this Jesus Himself stood among them and said ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said ‘why do doubts rise in your minds. Look at My hands and feet, it is I, myself. Touch me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. (Luke 24:36)
Eyes widened, jaws fell open, gasps all around the room, maybe some even trembled and almost collapsed! Could it be true? Have you ever had the experience that you see something but your mind says it’s not possible. I had that December 27th of 2018. My wife and I had ‘skyped’ with our grandkids who live in Senegal, on Christmas day. And then less than 48 hours later I came home to one of those grandgirls standing in my living room in Florida! My eyes saw her, she spoke to me, but my mind refused to believe it because I’d spoken with her in Africa the day before. And my heart didn’t want to be broken by some type of a scam that it looked like Claire, but wasn’t Claire, it was only some heartless imitation.
But then she ran to me and gave me a big hug, and I hugged her, and then our daughter who had brought her, stepped into the room and surprised us, and we hugged. It was the TOUCH that convinced us it was true! Jesus did exactly the same thing with those friends in the upper room that Sunday night. They saw Him standing there, they heard Him speaking to them, but it was finally their TOUCH of Him that began to convince them it was really Jesus, healed and resurrected from the dead, right there with them, again. Luke writes: “Jesus showed them His hands and His feet…”
Look, do you see them friends,… scars, on Jesus’ hands and feet! Go ahead…touch them. The nails had torn those hands and feet badly, but now they were healed, leaving only scars. But oh the scars told such a painful story of the price He had paid, the agony He had suffered.
Can you imagine, my friends, Luke the doctor writing this report? A physician describing a resurrection! “And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, Jesus asked them,’Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and He took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then He opened their minds so could understand the Scriptures.” There He is, the resurrected Jesus, standing right in front of us. They saw Him, they heard Him speak, they touched His body, even His scars, and now they watched Him eat. There was no further proof needed. They were experiencing the impossible. Resurrection from the dead of their dear Lord Jesus!
What, my friends, is the proof you have that Jesus’ resurrection is real and He has changed your life too?
Then Jesus said something amazing: “This is what is written: The Christ (Messiah) will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” It’s true, they were eyewitnesses of the unthinkable, the miraculous, EASTER. And each of them, with the rest of their lives, told as many people as they could, about what happened that Passover weekend in Jerusalem.
That was almost 2000 years ago… and generation after generation the story was shared, sometimes in writing, sometimes with spoken words face to face, and now this weekend with technology that is making what Jesus said possible: “…repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations.”
As I began today, I end today… over these Easter 2020 days, I believe more people, in more places will hear the story of Jesus, in more languages, then has ever happened before in human history! Luke 24:47 is happening RIGHT NOW, and as Jesus said “You are witnesses of these things!” I’ve included a link to a website which will actually let you see a glimpse of how this is happening RIGHT NOW around the world.
So let’s end today by praying… for all the people you know who do not believe the Easter story and have not yet trusted in Jesus. Pray that God will reach to them and draw them to Jesus this week! And pray for cities and nations that you know have been closed to the story of Jesus. Oh that God would use technology this week to break through every barrier and reach and save hundreds of millions of people all over the world! Here’s the link…
Oh Lord Jesus, how exciting that Sunday night must have been for YOU as You saw Your friends believe the unbelievable…You were raised from the dead and You were right there with them in that room. We pray that You, Jesus, will make Yourself known in similar ways to millions of people around the world today!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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