DAY SIXTY-NINE:
The Resurrection
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, by Michelangelo Caravaggio, 1602
Today we come to the most important event in all of human history. Our Bible study traces God's plan to undo the damage from Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden. Yesterday we considered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins and broke death's stranglehold. More than that, Jesus' resurrection made the Kingdom of God a glorious reality. N. T. Wright wrote, "The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom...It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven. The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it." So let's dig in to God's Word!
Jesus told His disciples in advance what would happen. "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." (Matthew 17:22-23). The disciples didn't get it, though. We may be tempted to criticize them, but let's remember that we have the benefit of the complete Bible and nearly two thousand years to live into this reality. If we were in their place, confronted with something so radically new, I don't think we would get it, either. The disciples thought they'd seen the last of Jesus when they rolled the stone in front of His tomb. The Roman guards came and placed Emperor Tiberius' seal over the door in wax. There was nothing left to do but go home. The disciples locked themselves away until things blew over. That's why the women are the heroes of the story.
John's account begins with Mary Magdalene heading to the tomb before sunrise on Sunday morning. The other writers tell us that Mary had company: Mary the mother of James and Salome (Mark 16:1). They were hoping to complete Jesus' burial preparations which were cut short with the arrival of the Sabbath on Friday evening. They found the heavy stone blocking the entrance rolled away, and the Roman guards nowhere to be seen! (Matthew 28:2 says that they fainted and became like dead men). They looked in the tomb and Jesus' body wasn't there. Matthew, Mark and Luke record that they saw and angel who told them what had happened. "Don't be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said." (Matthew 28:5-6) John tells us that Mary ran back to tell the disciples "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter and John took off running toward the tomb. John made it first but he stopped at the entrance. When Peter arrived he barged right in and found things as Mary had said. The linen wrappings and the face cloth were all folded up neatly, but Jesus was nowhere to be found! John then went in, and we're told that he believed. But Peter went away scratching his head, not knowing what to think, "for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead."
Mary stayed behind after Peter and John left. She didn't understand either. She just stood and wept at the tomb entrance. When she looked in again she saw two angels sitting where Jesus had lain. "Woman, why are you weeping?" they asked. She said that they had taken her Lord and she didn't know where He was. Then she heard something stirring behind her. She turned to see a man standing there, who asked her the same question. She assumed that he was the caretaker and said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." But when He spoke her name, Mary immediately knew who it was! It was Jesus! She grabbed hold of Him and didn't want to let go. Then Jesus said something that sounds kind of harsh: "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" This translation does a good job with the Greek. The idea is not that Jesus is untouchable, but that she must not cling to Him. It's not going to be like old times. Soon Jesus will ascend into heaven. He will promise to be with them always, but He will not be with them in body for very long.
Mary went and told the disciples, and they didn't have to wait long. That evening Jesus came through their locked and barricaded door. He didn't say "Surprise!" or "I'm baaaaack!" or "Did you miss Me?" or "We've got to talk about Friday." He said, "Peace be with you." His very first words to them showed that He loved and forgave them. He wasn't there to punish them or to frighten them. He showed them the wounds in His hands and side and said that just as the Father had sent Him, so He was going to send them. He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." This is confusing: didn't the Holy Spirit come on the Day of Pentecost? Yes, the disciples and the others with them were baptized with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. But these disciples must step up and lead Jesus' followers before that day. They are no longer disciples but have become apostles, and will have some important decisions to make before Pentecost. We'll spend more time on this next week.
Then Jesus said another puzzling thing: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." Some have interpreted this to mean that Jesus gave the church leadership the authority to forgive sins. That's not what it means. Jesus gave them the authority to carry out discipline within the church, to admonish members who sin and encourage them to repent, and to remove them if they will not. God alone judges us and forgives our sins. Only He knows our hearts. But behavior is outward and everybody can see it. For the health of the Body of Christ and its testimony those who behave badly must be corrected. We'll see how the church carried this out when we read the Book of Acts.
Thomas was not there for some reason when Jesus appeared to the other disciples. By the time he arrived Jesus had left, but you can be sure his friends told him all about it! But Thomas just couldn't believe. He said, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." Eight days later he got his wish. Jesus once again came through the locked doors and said, "Peace be with you!" Then He went over to Thomas. I love the painting at the top of the page, The Incredulity of St. Thomas, by Caravaggio. Jesus is pulling Thomas' finger into the gaping wound in His side! Thomas was convinced! He fell before Jesus and said, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus answered, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
The end of chapter 20 gives us the impression that John is concluding his account. "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." I think John probably intended to end it here, but soon after the Holy Spirit prompted him to include what we read in chapter 21. But we see John's purpose in writing, so that his readers will believe in Jesus and have eternal life in Him.
It appears that some time has passed and it's been a while since Jesus last appeared. Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection. (Acts 1:3) The disciples are back home in Galilee, waiting for Jesus. Peter got bored and said "I'm going fishing!" The others said that they'd go with him. They spent the night without catching a single fish. Then, in the first gray of morning, they saw a man standing on the beach. "Children, do you have any fish?" When they said no the stranger told them to throw the nets over the other side of the boat. Hmmm... that was something Jesus told Peter to do when they first met. They had nothing to lose, so they did as they were told. Soon the nets were full of large fish- John tells us there were 153! That many normally will tear the net, but not this time. Then John recognized that it was Jesus! Peter jumped overboard to swim to Him while the others hauled the net ashore. Jesus had a fire going, with some grilled fish and bread for breakfast.
After breakfast Jesus talked to Peter. "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You." Jesus then said, "Care for My sheep." Twice more Jesus asked the same thing, and twice more Peter answered yes. Peter was hurt after the last time, because he remembered how he had denied Jesus three times in His hour of trial. But Jesus still had confidence in Peter. His nickname meant little rock, or "Rocky." But Jesus would use this little stone, along with many others, to build His church. Peter will lead the young church in its earliest days. Next week is going to be exciting as we look at the Acts of the Apostles!
We saw yesterday that it's impossible to overstate the importance of the cross. It's doubly impossible to overstate the importance of the resurrection. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, wrote, "If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead." Keller is absolutely right! If Jesus rose from the dead, He is Lord of all. While there are very few who believe that Jesus never existed, there are many more who argue that the early Christians turned their leader into a legend. They made up things like the virgin birth and the resurrection to bolster their hero's image. It's one thing to say something, but quit another to die for it. Why would the disciples die hideously for something they knew was a lie? And could any mass hysteria be so compelling that hundreds of thousands of Christ's followers died over the next several hundred years rather than deny Him? No, my friends, something happened that first Easter morning, and things have never been the same! Jesus Christ is risen!
I couldn't make up my mind about which video to add to the end of this study, so you'll get two today. The first is of N. T. (Tom) Wright, biblical scholar and Church of England bishop, discussing Easter. Then I'll balance Wright's intellectual approach with what I think is the best Easter hymn ever, Easter Song, performed by the late Keith Green.
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