The disciples were meeting together when the women found them and told them what they had seen and heard. Listen to their reaction in Luke 24:11 “But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.” I can find myself on both sides of this interaction, but I think foolishly in the past my largest encumbrance has been fear of the women’s part. Sometimes others reactions have been what I’ve based my worth and motivation for working. But like these bold women, we should share it anyways, even if it sounds foolish to others, even if it isn’t received. Look, truth is truth because it is true, not because it’s perceived to be. And likewise, on the disciples’ part, if we have doubt, we should name it and search it.
I feel compelled to ask, especially after just remembering the cross and all he has done for us, WHY would anyone reject Jesus? A deity born to this world to give up heaven so we may gain it. A sinless man giving up his own life so that we may have it. A savior surrendering willingly to death for us so that we may escape it. All to offer us the free gift of salvation in the attempt to make us whole, clean, and righteous before God’s eyes once more. WHY would we resist this kind of love?
Is it too unbelievable? Yes, and yet it’s true.
Is it too easy? Yes, and yet it’s true.
Am I too unworthy? Unclean? Yes, and yet it’s true.
Is it counter cultural, going against everything the world has told us to give up our own ambitions and giving up self to follow him? Yes, and yet… it’s true. And not only true, but worth it.
Perhaps the issue lies in the disbelief of the story or simply in the doubting of his goodness in being Lord over our lives. But either way, I think the answer to this question lies in disbelief. Perhaps skepticism hasn’t kept us from believing that Jesus is Lord or even surrendering to him in salvation, but perhaps it’s held us from truly following him. I want us to pause and ask ourselves, WHAT is it that is keeping us from boldly and unabashedly following after Jesus. What is it that’s stopping us from allowing him to truly be Lord of our hearts and lives? Because whatever it is, is nothing compared to eternity with our Lord or his blessings for us here on earth.
Following the resurrection, as news reaches Jesus’s followers in various ways, each of their reactions speak to me. The accounts of the four gospels all vary with different details, but believing that the bible is the infallible word of God, we have to trust that when laid out together, they piece together the story seamlessly. We’ll start with the first to the tomb and the first to hear the good news, the women. Firstly, we know that the women were going to the tomb where they thought Jesus to still be lying in death to anoint his body with the burial spices they had purchased and prepared with their own money and their own time. Now, did they have it all right and possess full understanding of Jesus if they were looking for him in the tomb, not risen and unmoving? No. But they were taking their best with what they knew in the only way they knew how – and seeking to honor him with it. In fact, in Mark, it says that on their way to the tomb, they were discussing with each other how they would even get into the tomb, but they were going there anyway, however unsure. I think this is exactly what faith looks like. When they arrived there, their concerns for getting in the tomb were dispelled. It was open, but it was empty. I like to think that seeing the stone already rolled away, they silently or outwardly offered thanks to God for providing a way not realizing that he had done just that, but “infinitely more than we might ask or imagine.” When they see the angel, who tells them what has happened, Matthew says “they were very frightened but also filled with great joy,” but they don’t stop at how it made them feel or the high of experiencing it, they took action. In the same sentence, in their aim for obedience, this account says “and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message.” And I love the next part: “And as they went, Jesus met them.” Isn’t that just like faith in Christ? Despite our fear or wanting to just relish in worship, when we answer the call to obey, he meets us in that.
The next reaction at the resurrection mentioned in Matthew is that of the guards. Though they were eye witnesses to this unfolding, what an honor, they failed to spread the good news. Well they tell the truth once, to the leading priests who hold a meeting and come back with their ploy. A bribe for the guards. If you will spread this false truth, that he isn’t risen, but that his body was stolen, we will offer your safety in the matter by having your back. In other words, if you deny Christ, you will gain people’s approval. If you deny heaven, you can have this fleeting security. This may be the scariest account of all, because remember, they were not deceived, they were eye witnesses. Literally, all they had to do was tell their story and failed. This is so scary, because it’s applicable today. They knew truth, but did not choose it. Look, I don’t know what the world or enemy is offering you to keep you from surrendering your life to Jesus Christ and spreading the good news, but hear this: It. Is. Not. Worth. It.
The disciples were meeting together when the women found them and told them what they had seen and heard. Listen to their reaction in Luke 24:11 “But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.” I can find myself on both sides of this interaction, but I think foolishly in the past my largest incumbrance has been fear of the women’s part. Sometimes others reactions have been what I’ve based my worth and motivation for working. But like these bold women, we should share it anyways, even if it sounds foolish to others, even if it isn’t received. Look, truth is truth because it is true, not because it’s perceived to be. And likewise, on the disciples’ part, if we have doubt, we should name it and search it.
It’s not the tendency to doubt, but what we do with it. We tend to think of doubting and faith to be both mutually exclusive and unable to be controlled. As though they both just happen to us by chance, and we can’t change or reverse the outcome or how we feel. Perhaps this holds true for our initial response to certain hearsay, but we can control the result of both through our choices and actions, and neither are they mutually exclusive as I believe one leads to the other. Doubt, although initially perceived as bad, has the irreversible ability to produce greater assurance than ever before. If we don’t doubt, we won’t seek, and if we won’t seek, we won’t find. Faith, although claiming to believe, isn’t simply the belief lying unused on the floor of our hearts. But rather, it’s the conscious effort of picking it up daily, however many times is necessary, to move forward and step out even when circumstances are unsure, because that’s how sure we are in Christ. Doubt and faith are linked, but only by our choice to let them be so.
Peter, disbelieving at first news, takes his doubts and allows them to move him. He hears the news and goes to the tomb. The bible says he stoops down to look inside at the empty tomb and the unused linen wrappings. I love the image of him having to physically go check it out and then furthermore, stooping to look inside. Because often times we do have to lower ourselves, putting down our own pride in humility to hear or see what God is trying to tell us. He humbled himself in posture to humble himself in spirit to behold the evidence for his own eyes. And he did it with all he knew to do. Sometimes when we don’t know where to find Jesus, we need to look in places where we know he’s been. In his word, in the lives of others, in his church, maybe even in past seasons of our own lives. Later that same day, the Lord appears to the disciples who were gathered together, and not only reveals himself, but gives them the Holy Spirit as well as the mission that laid before them.
Next up, Thomas. Now you know he’s got to have his own paragraph. One thing I want to point out is that for whatever reason, he was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them. If he had been where he was supposed to be with his fellow believers, he would have already received the good news and the Holy Spirit as well. As it happens, he was not. There’s problem number one. Stick to Godly community. However, when they did see him, they told him what had occurred, and in his response, I believe it says more about his choice to doubt than simple inability to believe. John 20:25 says: “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” The problem with Thomas was not that he merely didn’t believe but that he wouldn’t believe. It was willful. Thomas is our analytical guy. Our scientist. Our engineering mind. And he wants to see and touch and know proof before he will believe. So EIGHT DAYS LATER, my emphasis added as I had not previously realized the amount of time that had gone by, Thomas is still choosing his disbelief. If my calculations are correct, this is 11 days after Jesus had died—a week and a half. That’s like 4 years in quarantine time. I point this out to say for those of you who aren’t Thomases but have Thomases in your life, the time seems long. It feels frustrating. Maddening even—to know the truth and have the spirit and desire nothing more for your Thomas, but he will not have it. It feels like time is running out as it probably felt for them, because they didn’t know when he had to ascend, but 8 days later, the disciples were together again, this time Thomas with them, and again, Jesus appeared to them. And not only did he appear, but he offered up freely the evidence that was called to question. He seeks Thomas out personally and says to him “put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side.” This is one of the most gracious acts of Jesus in my opinion, because he had already given up everything and died for Thomas, but yet he met him once more in his need. And he did this, because Jesus will go to any lengths to save us. Despite our sins, despite our pride, despite our lack of belief. But his next words confirm our choice in the matter: “Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” Why would Jesus make a command out of a feeling? He doesn’t. He acknowledges it’s a choice tied to an action and urges us to do it. Finally, with these famous words he closes the scene “you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
If you have read those words above and felt like it’s a call to believe and never see or experience Jesus, you aren’t alone. Many of us mistake the meaning and promise here. It’s not a call to believe without seeing. It’s a call to believe before seeing. Just like the women who had to show up or the disciples who gathered together, if you simply move in obedience to what you know to be true, he will reveal himself to you. I’m tempted to write for days on this, but truthfully, and not at all surprisingly, Paul says it much better in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, so I would encourage you to follow up with reading these on your own and ask God in the process to reveal to you not only himself but what may be keeping you from choosing him ultimately in your own life, in your own heart? And then be prepared to cast it away and remove it from your life readily no matter the cost now. If you will ask in earnest, I believe he will answer. Let’s don’t miss the opportunity of the cross or the Spirit moving in this quarantine to become bold and unabashed followers of Christ who has the power both to save us and to dispel all our doubts if we’ll only ask him.
Opmerkingen