April 5, 2010 (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20-21)

Well, I should have read ahead to get clarification on the 'three day' thing. The problem is, I'm not sure I understand it yet. All the accounts of the resurrection begin with the words "Early on Sunday morning". So I guess the 'three days' are Friday, Saturday and Sunday - but not counting full days. I'm not sure, but I'm not going to get hung up on that. Also, the four accounts list four different versions of what transpired. I guess that comes from the same story being told from four different people. Matthew gives the most detail of the stone being rolled away:

^{Matthew 28:2} Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. ³ His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

Matthew's account is also the only one that tells the story of what the guards did:

¹¹ As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. ¹² A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. ¹³ They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ ¹⁴ If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” ¹⁵ So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

The fact that they weren't killed is a testimony to the truth of their words. The elders knew they were telling the truth, otherwise they would have lost their heads for 'falling asleep on the job'.

And I love Mark's account of what happened:

^{Mark 16:5} When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, ⁶ but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. ⁷ Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

Those two small words 'including Peter' mean so much. I would imagine that Peter didn't consider himself a disciple anymore since he had denied Jesus. (That point wasn't mentioned in any previous blog, but Jesus told him by sunrise the next morning, he would deny Jesus three times. Peter basically said "Never!" But just as Jesus said he would, he denied Him three times, even emphasizing it with cursing. It wise for us to 'never say never', or God may have us eat those words as He did Peter). So now, back to Peter. God knew how he felt. He knew that Peter felt like a failure. That Jesus must surely be so disappointed in him as to not even count him among His trusted group anymore. But Peter wasn't the only one that denied Him. All of the disciples did. I would imagine Peter, knowing his denial was the most blatant, would say, "Look, if He wants me to meet with him, surely He would want you to as well." God knows the frailty of our flesh. He forgives and He continues to reach out to us.

There were so many other "good things" in this reading today, but I'll just close with these two 'musings' of John:

^{John 20:30} The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

^{John 21:24} This disciple (that's how John referred to himself in his book...always in the third person, usually saying of himself 'the one whom Jesus loved'. ) is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate.

²⁵ Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

That's quite the thought. That we only see a snapshot of Jesus' life. How many other people did He raise from the dead? How many other people did He restore sight to? I guess it doesn't matter. We have enough proof of the 'power of His name'.