Jesus of Nazareth was dead. There was no
doubt about that. The Roman guards had seen him die. So had all the
onlookers. Including His mother, Mary, who was there at Golgotha.
Jesus of Nazareth was dead. Dead as a doornail.
One of his disciples, John, was also there. He was
with Mary. He had seen Jesus die, too. And then, eventually, he and
Mary left. John made sure Mary had somewhere to go, somewhere safe,
somewhere she’d be cared for. Then he left, going to where he and some of
the other disciples had been staying.
They just kind of sat around. No one said much.
Someone said they’d heard that a member of the council, Joseph, of Arimathea,
had taken charge of Jesus’ body. They’d heard of him. He seemed like
a decent enough sort, for a councilman. At least he’d give Jesus a decent
burial. It was not much, but at least it was something. There did
not seem like there was much anyone else could do.
The next day, of course, was the Sabbath Day. No one
was doing anything, as was appropriate. But even if it had not been the
Sabbath, no one probably would’ve done much. No one felt like doing
anything. Jesus was dead.
They’d put so much hope in Him, you know? They’d been
convinced that He was the Savior. They’d seen Him work miracles.
They’d seen Him drive out demons. They’d even seen Him bring someone back
from the dead. They’d heard all the words He’d said, words that seemed
like they could only come from the divine Son of God. Jesus had referred
to God as His Father. And Jesus was a descendant of King David. And
Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, claiming the kingship. It
seemed like He had to be the Savior. It had seemed like there was
not even any reason to dispute it.
And now He was gone. Stone cold dead. They
tried to read the scriptures. They tried to say their prayers. But
none of it really worked. All they could think about was Jesus. And
they thought about what they’d done, or failed to do. Should they have
done more? Should they have stopped it somehow? Should they have
stayed with Jesus, been arrested with Him? Should they have died with
Him? So many questions, and no answers.
They tried to remember the things Jesus had told
them. He’d talked about how he’d be killed, but they had not really
believed it. Not that they thought Jesus was lying or anything. It
just seemed so impossible. They tried to remember some of the other
things, about loving their enemies and things like that, but none of it sunk
in. They just were not able to think about that, not now. All they
could think about was that Jesus, their friend, their leader, the One they
thought was the Savior, was gone.
The Sabbath came and went. The next day, they got up
early. No one had been able to sleep much anyway. Someone started
to make some breakfast. No one was hungry, really, but they knew they
needed to eat something. And they knew they had to find some way,
somehow, to move on. They did not know how they would do that, and they
really did not even particularly want to. But they knew they needed to,
somehow. They had no other choice, really. So, they started in.
Suddenly, some women came running in. They recognized
them, of course. There were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of
James, some others. The disciples knew they had planned to go out to
Jesus’ tomb, to prepare Him for burial. When they first saw the women,
they thought maybe they’d come to tell them the preparation was completed.
But instead, the women were excited. Agitated.
It took a while before the disciples could really even understand what they
were saying. But eventually they got the story. And some story it
was, too. The women claimed that they’d gone out to the tomb, and the
stone had been rolled away from the entrance. That was unusual
enough–those stones were big and heavy. But then, the women said that
when they’d walked into the tomb, it was empty! Jesus was not there!
But that was not all. The women said there were two men
there, in shining clothes. They told them that Jesus had risen. And
they quoted the words Jesus had said, “The Son of Man must be delivered over to
the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.”
The disciples did not believe the women. They wanted
to, probably, but how could they? They’d had so much hope in Jesus, and
then seen it all go for nothing. They were probably afraid to get their
hopes up again, for fear that they’d be disappointed yet again. But Peter
at least said he’d go out to the tomb to check things out. And he saw the
tomb. He saw the strips of linen, the strips that had been wrapped around
Jesus’ body when he was put in the tomb. But that was all he saw.
There was nothing else to see. Other than the linen strips, the tomb was
empty.
And maybe you’re thinking, come on, get to the point.
Because we know all this, and we know what comes next. We know that,
eventually, Jesus appears to the disciples. He proves to them that it
really is Him, and there is great rejoicing. As there should have been,
of course.
But none of that happened on Easter morning. On
Easter morning, everyone was wondering what had happened. And even if
they believed that Jesus had risen from the dead, they did not know just what
that meant. They did not know that they would see Him again. For
all they knew, if Jesus had defeated death, He had simply gone back to heaven
to be with God the Father. I mean, that’s awesome news for Jesus, and I’m
sure they were happy for Him. But still, they were faced with figuring
out how they were going to go on.
It seems like a lot of the
time, we want our faith to be nice, simple, and easy. And sometimes
that’s especially true at Easter. We don’t want to deal with hard
questions on Easter. We don’t want to deal with uncertainty and doubt on
Easter. We want to come here, see the lilies, hear that Jesus is risen,
and then enjoy the day with our family. That’s what Easter is supposed to
be, right?
And there are times when I’d like that, too. But the
trouble with a nice, simple, easy faith is that it does not help with the
realities of life. And that’s what the disciples were dealing with on
that first Easter morning–the realities of life.
Those realities include loss. They include
doubt. They include fear. They include questions. They
include wondering what God is doing. They include dealing with times when
it seems like everything you were counting on has been taken away. They
include feelings of guilt. They include feeling like you don’t have a
clue what’s going on. They include trying to figure out a way to carry on
without someone you had thought would always be there.
The disciples were dealing with all that and more on that
first Easter morning. And you know what? We deal with all of that,
too. We deal with it on a consistent basis. I suspect all of us
have dealt with all of those things at one time or another. In fact, I
suspect that some of us are dealing with some of them now. Our faith in
Jesus will not take those realities away, any more than the disciples/ faith in
Jesus took those realities away for them.
But here’s the good news. Jesus did come back.
He did prove to the disciples that it really was Him. And the disciples
did figure out a way to carry on and move forward. Jesus showed them that
way. And Jesus blessed them. And with that blessing, the disciples
were able to find the way to move forward. And they were able to move
forward with confidence, knowing that Jesus was with them and would always be
with them. They might not be able to see Him, but they knew He was
there. And they knew that, if Jesus was with them, they could do
anything.
When we deal with the realities of life, Jesus will do that
for us, too. Jesus will remind us of who He is. He will show us the
way to move forward. And Jesus will bless us. And with Jesus’
blessing, we will move forward. And we’ll move forward with confidence,
knowing that Jesus is with us, just as Jesus was with the disciples.
We may think we want a nice, simple, easy faith.
Maybe that’s what the disciples wanted, too. But Jesus gave them so much
more than that. And Jesus gives us so much more than that. Jesus
gives us a faith that enables us to deal with the realities of life and move
forward. Even when we might not want to. Even when we’re not sure
how. Jesus gives us a faith that says, I am with you. I will show
you how. I will help you get through everything you’re going
through. And I will, when the time is right, take you to be with me in
heaven. That’s what Jesus did for the disciples. And that’s what
Jesus does for us.
It may not be the easy way. But it’s the Lord’s
way. And it’s the best way.
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