Resurrection Sunday - A Sunday of Unbelief?
Resurrection Sunday - A Sunday of Unbelief?
Could the first Resurrection Sunday have been the Sunday of
Shock? The Sunday of Confusion? The Sunday of Unbelief? The Sunday of Doubt? à Not from the pagan
Romans, or the heretical Sadducees, or the hard-hearted Pharisees…but the
hard-headed disciples?
It could be said that the Women at the tomb disbelieved. Luke 24:3
Fairly said that Mary Magdalene disbelieved. John 20:2, 11, 13, 15
It could definitely be said that the Apostles disbelieved. Luke
24:11 – Don’t believe the women who saw the tomb emptied and heard the angels
tell them Jesus lives. Mark 16:11 said they didn’t believe Mary Magdalene when
she saw Jesus, and v13 said the two men (probably on the road to Emmaus) came
back to tell the Apostles, but they also didn’t believe them. V14, Jesus
rebukes Apostles for unbelief.
Luke 24:36-43,
He appears to them. Shows them His wounds, eats fish and honey in front of
them. And (as v41 states) “they still
disbelieved for joy and were marveling.” In other words, à Yeah, we’re shocked to
see You like this. Yeah, we believe You could rise from the dead, or whatever
else you want. But it still seems a bit too good to be true.
What got through to them? Same as got through to those disciples on the road to Emmaus, appealing to something they have loved and respected from their youth. (v44-46) “He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures (“the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms”), and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.’” All in the OT about the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus must be fulfilled, and it either was or was continuing to be in that moment.
Jn. 20:30-31 – And many of those moments were recorded in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostle. But as v. 20 of the text says not all, for “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples” and others. Signs and wonders that also fulfill what is said in the Law and Prophets, but as A-John stated in the last verse, “were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (Jn. 21:25). But what was written was for a glorious purpose: “That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (20:31).
“That you may believe!” (v27) “Do not disbelieve, but believe!” Not doubt, but faith. à Our culture has made belief and faith far more one-dimensional than what the Bible does. We think of these ideas as something that simply are. Kind of like a state of being verb than one that’s active. [I believe in Jesus, I am a Christian, I belong to a Bible-believing church. I have a Bible and sometimes read a verse or two (but on the Internet). I pray whenever I’m down and have no one else to turn to, or if I eat and I remember and am not around a lot of people.] à But if we were to look at the full meanings of both Hebrew (aman) and Greek (pistis) words for belief and faith, we would see that the above statement of faith would not cut it.
How much faith do we place in a building with a strong foundation, a decent roof, and everything else that’s sound? We’d be thankful for it and we’d use it as we see fit (hopefully for the purpose that it was built or remodeled). How much greater faith can we place in an eternal building, “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1)? A building made possible by salvation in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord? Can we say with the once doubting but now declaring A-Thomas, “My Lord and My God!”?
The Tomb is Empty! Jesus Is Alive and He Reigns!
Live in Resurrection Hope! - JOY, Dan