Waiting for the Truth

Jesus is alive -

The guards at the tomb were rigid with fear, but they saw the stone rolled away, and they heard the angel of the Lord say,

“He is not here.”

Mary Magdalene was visiting the tomb and Jesus spoke to her.  She knew, absolutely knew, by the sound of His voice, it was Jesus speaking to her.

She ran back to the house to tell the other disciples, and it was Peter and John who went to see the empty tomb.

There would be two important questions on their minds as they went back to the house -

“Where is Jesus?” And “What happens next?”

The disciples were all together again in the house, waiting.

They couldn’t go out because the temple authorities were looking for anyone associated with Jesus.  They wanted to know two things -

“Who removed the body from the tomb?”

“Where is the body now?”

So we have two groups of people who need to know where Jesus is - for two different reasons.

The disciples were all together, praying through their fears - Lord, help us to be careful not to get caught by the soldiers because we don’t know what they will do to us.  Only You, Lord Jesus, will know what we need to do next.  Please help us to be patient as we wait for Your instructions.

The temple authorities were in a hurry to find the thieves, who stole the body of Christ, and inflict punishment on them for causing this problem.   The governor of Judea was due to arrive very soon and there must be a solution to this.  There had to be no doubt whose fault it was, there had to be evidence to prove their guilt and there had to be punishment for grave robbing.

They were waiting as patiently as they could for some report from the soldiers.

The first people who didn’t have long to wait for their answers were the disciples.  Jesus appeared in the room with them on that same night.   He laid their fears to rest with four words - “Peace be with you.”  Then Jesus lifted them out of their fear, worry and mourning into a place of security - He showed them the wounds on His hands, and in His side where the soldier pierced his body with a spear.

Jesus is alive, and He is with us right here and right now.

The temple authorities heard, but never believed, what happened.

The guards at the tomb where Jesus was laid, told the chief priests exactly what had happened at the tomb on the morning Jesus was resurrected.

But who in the world was going to believe that.

So the guards were given a large sum of money and told -

“You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’”

As Matthew tells us in his Gospel, ‘This story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.’

Waiting is not easy because all kinds of questions come to mind and some of them can lead us to take a wrong turn in life.

Jesus knows this.  He sees our hearts and appreciates the tension in waiting.  He acted quickly to reassure the disciples of the truth - He is alive.   The story told by the guards would reach their ears, but the disciples knew the truth.

When we have said our prayers and we’re waiting for answers, we need to ask for patience.  Jesus hears our prayers, but there may be some events which need to take place, before, we receive our answers, so that we know the answers are true.

Look through the events again and see what you can see, about how God works out the answers for us.

For example - what if the disciples had heard the story made up by the chief priests, before they had seen that Jesus is alive.

Would the strength of their faith in Jesus have suffered as they tried to prove their innocence.

How has this event helped me - my faith in Jesus is stronger because I know Jesus will step into my life, when I need a true answer to my questions.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, receive it and believe it.

God bless

From  Susan (Elder of the church)