Wednesday | Week 15

This is the passage upon which the case for Christian movement rests. Either Jesus was resurrected from the dead, or we are forced to believe something far less. Either the greatest miracle ever actually occurred, or we are a deluded people—hoping for eternity but without any proof that it exists.

The account from John 20 is amazing at so many levels. First, two women, Mary and Mary Magdalene, were the first to witness the empty tomb and to be in the presence of the living Christ. That John speaks to this is no small thing. Women had no legal standing to be believed in a court of law or any other place for that matter. Yet these two women weren’t just ahead of their time, they were ahead of the male disciples!

As the account progresses, Jesus appears to his disciples who were behind locked doors, desperately afraid of what would happen to them. It really was the living Jesus who appeared to them, but he was changed. He was recognizable, but was no longer restrained by doors or walls or any other physical object. The spiritual reality of his teaching had now become the physical reality of his resurrected life. The One who was tortured and crucified and clearly dead was now alive. Friday had turned into Sunday morning—the world would thus never be the same. 

In verse 31, John states the reason for the detail of his account. He said: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Perhaps it’s possible to over-simplify the Christian message, but this verse sums up the whole of the matter: To believe in Jesus is to accept the apostolic witness that the One who was dead, had been raised to life by the power of the infinite God. It is in this reality that we find our faith and our very lives. Whatever happens to us in this life, there is a life to come. It is eternal and it is surpassing in its fullness. Lift up your hearts! Jesus is alive—and so are the people who believe!