Robert Grisham Posts

As I wrote yesterday, Paul had a rough time in Philippi. He was beaten and thrown into prison without a trial. But when he left he went to Thessalonica, and though he was not there very long, the people he met became very dear to him.

While Paul was in Athens, he got word that the new church in Thessalonica was going through severe persecution. He was unable to go to them, but he sent his protege Timothy. And when Timothy got back to Paul, Paul was relieved and overflowed with gratitude by Timothy’s report. Not only were these people standing firm in the face of persecution and suffering, but they were thriving.

At some point during Paul’s time in Corinth, he decided to write a letter to the church in Thessalonica. They had sent a letter to him, and he wanted to respond to their questions. But he also wanted to encourage them and remind them of what they meant to him. In the letter he describes himself as both a mother and a father. He also wants them to know that their story of facing adversity head on has spread throughout all of Greece.

My favorite verse in this letter is, “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

Today’s reading covers three full years. Many of the stories in Acts show Paul to be a bit of a super hero. I love that this story also shows some of his humanity. Today’s passage begins with Paul ready to hit the road again. He tells Barnabas, who agrees to join but wants to take his younger cousin (maybe nephew) Mark. Yes, this is the same Mark who will write one of the gospels. The problem is that Mark had abandoned them during their last journey, and Paul wasn’t ready to give him a second chance. So they went their separate ways. Barnabas took Mark and went to Cyprus.

Paul took Silas and headed back to the cities in Galatia where the churches had been started. In one city they invited a young disciple named Timothy to join them. At another point Luke (the author of Acts) joins them. A little later Paul had a vision that told him to go to Macedonia (Greece). This would begin his second missionary journey.

They went to Philippi, where a wealthy woman named Lydia was converted and then began leading a church. During their time there Paul and Silas were arrested after casting out a demon from a slave girl whose owner had been making money off her as a fortune teller. This evil slave owner rallied the crowd. Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and then thrown in prison. In prison they sang. They wouldn’t let their suffering bring them down. And then an earthquake happened, and their shackles fell off and the doors were open. The prison guard was about to kill himself, fearing what would happen to him once the prisoners escaped. But Paul reassured him that they were going to stay there. This man and his entire household became followers of Jesus as a result.

The next morning Paul let the city officials know that they had beaten and thrown into prison without trial a Roman citizen. This was a big mic drop, and the officials were scared. At this point they just wanted Paul and Silas to leave, which they did.

From there they went to Thessalonica and then to Berea and Athens. Athens was the first place where the reception did not go as planned. There was no beatings, but there was also no interest.

Paul and Silas traveled to Corinth after this, and they actually got to spend about 18 months there. This would be the longest they had spent in any one city. They met Priscilla and Aquila there, who would become true partners in this ministry. He would later send them ahead of him to Rome to start a church there.

One of the things I most love about this story is that as great as Paul is, he’s not a one man act. He builds community and he empowers others. His reason is that he knows he can’t do the work on his own. He has no idea when he’s going to be run out of town or even if he’s going to be alive tomorrow. He has to let go of control and allow others to do the work. He empowers both Jews and Gentiles, as well as both men and women. I honestly don’t know how you can read the book of Acts and not come away with the belief that ministry is based on gifting rather than gender. The church over time has read a few verses from a couple of his letters and then built doctrines that have promoted patriarchy. I’m grateful that a lot has changed even during my lifetime, but a lot of damage has been done, and that damage has led to a lot of suffering for everyone.

Up to this point our Scripture readings have been all narrative. We’ve covered close to 50 years in these readings, beginning with Jesus’ birth and now through Paul’s first missionary journey. The remainder of these readings go through the book of Acts, but one of the things I love about this Bible is that Paul’s writings are interspersed throughout the narrative of Acts.

After Paul and Barnabas spent some time in Jerusalem, they made their way back to Antioch. While there Paul decided to write a letter to the new churches throughout Galatia. We know this letter as, you guessed it, Galatians!

This letter is relatively short (only six chapters), but there is a lot in those six chapters. When I was a pastor I once spent eight or nine weeks teaching through this letter. I share that simply to say that it’s quite a daunting task to write one reflection post on this letter.

Here’s the context for the letter…

Those same Jewish leaders who confronted Paul in Antioch and then went to Jerusalem began traveling behind Paul to the churches in Galatia that were now 1-2 years old. They didn’t want to undo the work that Paul had done, at least in their minds. They just wanted to add to it. And what did they want to add on? It was their belief that Gentiles would need to adopt the Jewish customs and law in order to follow Jesus.

“It’s great that you have become followers of Jesus, but Paul left something out that is very important. This faith is a Jewish faith, and unless you follow our Jewish Law (Torah) you cannot follow our Jewish Messiah.”

And in order for this message to stick, they spent a lot of their time discrediting Paul.

Paul’s reason for writing this letter was threefold: first, to share a bit of his credentials; second, to remind them of his love for them; and third, to share why he felt that these Jewish leaders were absolutely wrong.

The theme of this letter is freedom. More than anything else Paul wanted these new believers to know that Jesus came to give freedom. And he felt that adding anything to this message meant the opposite of freedom. That’s why Paul talks so much about slavery in this letter. And it’s why he says towards the end of the letter, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

Paul talks a lot in this letter about the law. I’ll admit that it’s challenging to wade through it, but he does so because, as much as he cares for the law, he believed it was totally insufficient to change hearts. Only Jesus could do that. And anything added onto the message of Jesus missed the message of Jesus.

Two days ago we heard Saul’s story, and that story ended with him meeting Barnabas, who became a sort of mentor to Saul. The two of them ended up going to Antioch, a large city in modern-day Turkey. Remember, after Stephen was killed the new followers of Jesus fled Jerusalem. Many went back to their homes, but some went to new cities, and while there they talked about what had happened to them in Jerusalem. One of those cities was Antioch. And just like in Jerusalem, many people believed what they said about this Jesus.

Word got back to the apostles in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch to encourage these new believers. He asked Saul to join him, and for an entire year they were a part of this new church, which was made up mostly of Gentiles.

After the year was up, Saul and Barnabas were ready to go to other cities in order to tell people about Jesus and to form together communities of people who wanted to follow Jesus. The key was that they wanted to go to Gentile cities where people had never heard of Jesus.

Thus begins the first missionary journey (Acts 13-14). This journey spanned two years, covered over 1000 miles, and resulted in new churches being started in cities like Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. And also of note…somewhere during this journey Saul changed his name to Paul.

Whenever Paul and Barnabas would arrive in a new city, their custom was to go to the Jewish synagogue. The synagogue in each city would be comprised primarily of Jewish people but also some God-fearing Gentiles. Here Paul would be allowed to share his story. It would always begin with stories that everyone there knew. Stories of Abraham, Moses and David. But they would end with Jesus. And it was here, like with Stephen, that the Jewish people would often get upset.

It actually had less to do with the good news of Jesus and more to do with the insufficiency of the law, which was handed down through Moses. Towards the end of Paul’s first recorded sermon (Acts 13:13-43) Paul remarked, “I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”

This theme of Jesus doing what the law was incapable of doing will be seen over and over again in Paul’s writings. He believed in his core that the law was not enough to truly change the heart and lead to transformation. Only Jesus could do this.

This message of Jesus was well received by many, though there were always some who felt that it was a dangerous message since, at least to them, it was an attack on the law and their customs. There were also the Jewish leaders who once again were jealous of the crowds that were coming. This was the case after that first sermon of Paul’s. The next Sabbath almost the entire city of Antioch Pisidia came out to hear Paul and Barnabas. The synagogue leader was not used to that kind of crowd.

In most of these cities Paul and Barnabas would be run out of town at some point. In Lystra the people were so mad that they stoned Paul and then dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. He wasn’t.

On their way back to Antioch they went back through each city and visited each of the new churches that had been started. At that time they appointed elders (leaders) in each church.

They were not the only ones to go to Antioch, though. Some of the Jewish leaders who were very concerned about what Paul and Barnabas were doing arrived in Antioch. Their message to this mostly Gentile church was that in order to follow Jesus you also had to follow the customs taught by Moses. What this in part meant was that the Gentile men would need to be circumcised. In other words, they wanted these people to become Jewish.

Paul and Barnabas believed strongly that this was wrong. So they all went to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles. When they got there Paul shared all that God had done in these Gentile cities. He believed that Jesus was enough. These Gentiles could follow Jesus without becoming Jewish.

James, the brother of Jesus, was the first to speak up. He believed that God’s plan included more than just the Jewish people, and he felt that it was important not to make things more difficult for the Gentiles than it needed to be. Therefore, circumcision was not going to be required. Yay!

James, Peter, John and the other leaders in Jerusalem had seen enough to know that Jesus challenged their customs. “The way we’ve always done it” normally wouldn’t cut it, so they continued to open themselves up to the opportunity to change their minds.

Since the time of Abraham, God’s plan had been to bless the nation of Israel so that they would therefore be a blessing to the entire world. And God sent Jesus not simply as the Messiah (rescuer) for the Jewish people but as Messiah for the entire world. But as we’ve seen before, God’s ways often looks very different from ours.

Today’s story centers on a Roman centurion living in Caesarea named Cornelius. Luke describes him as devout, generous and God-fearing. One day while he was praying he had a vision. The angel told him to go and find a man named Simon (Peter). That was it. But Cornelius sent some men to go find this Simon Peter.

The next day Peter was in a city called Joppa. It was about 40 miles from Caesarea. He was on the roof praying. He was also hungry. He too had a vision. In the vision a large sheet was let down, and the sheet showed every kind of animal. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up. Kill and eat.”

Weird vision, I know. But it was even stranger to Peter. On that sheet were plenty of animals that it was ok to eat, but there were also a lot that were considered unclean. He had been brought up believing that it would be a great sin for him to eat something unclean. He said as much to the voice, and the voice said in response, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times.

While Peter was wondering what in the world this vision was about, there was a knock on the door. The men who had been sent by Cornelius had found Peter, and they asked if he would return with them to meet Cornelius. So the next day they left for Caesarea.

While it was against the law for Peter to eat something unclean, it was also against the law for him to even associate with Gentiles, which is what Cornelius, his household, and all of his friends who had shown up were. Peter mentions this to them, but then tells them that these recent events were causing him to repent/rethink things.

After Cornelius shared the vision he had, Peter shared about Jesus. And he shared that he now believed that the message of Jesus was for all people, not simply the Jewish people. He said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).

The Holy Spirit coming upon a person was the way that everyone knew that God was

After seeing the Holy Spirit come upon them just as it had that Pentecost day and in the days since, Peter then asked Cornelius and the others if they would like to be baptized. They said yes.

All was well and good until Peter got called to Jerusalem to explain his actions to the apostles. The key issue was a simple one. He had gone into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.

So Peter explained the vision and the two guys and the trip to Caesarea and then everything that happened after that. His final sentence to them was, “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us (the Holy Spirit), then who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way” (Acts 11:17).

I love the response by the apostles. This went against everything that they knew, but they trusted Peter, and they all had plenty of other experiences to look back on where Jesus did not do things the way they thought it would. So while it didn’t make sense to them, maybe it made perfect sense.

They said, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance (rethinking) that leads to life” (Acts 11:18).

Here’s how Luke begins chapter 8 of Acts…

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Sounds straight out of Hollywood doesn’t it! We don’t know how long has passed since Pentecost, but in the days since the Church has experienced tremendous growth. Things have changed everyday, and it’s been impossible for anyone, including the leaders, to really keep up with things. They’ve simply been responding to the move of God all around them.

But now something has changed. There is a new level of hostility directed at them. Stephen was actually killed for this. At that point all except the apostles fled Jerusalem. Remember, most of the people who were now a part of the church were not from Jerusalem. They had just come for the festivals. But then they had stayed because they simply didn’t want to leave. But now they knew it was time to go home. But they would return as different people. This Jesus of Nazareth had changed their lives, and now, as they left Jerusalem, they told people what had happened to them. More lives were changed as a result.

We were introduced to Saul at the end of the previous chapter, when Stephen was killed. But we know nothing about him. Now we see that he is in a sense the ring leader of the persecution. So who was this young man? Here are a few things we learn from letters he later writes to the same Christians he had once persecuted…

• He was from a devout Jewish family in Tarsus
• His family came from the tribe of Benjamin, which meant that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews (Philippians 3:5)
• He was the student of a prominent rabbi named Gamaliel
• He was a Pharisee
• He was zealous for his beliefs
• He believes, like his fellow Pharisees, that Jesus and his followers were doing damage to their religion, and they must be stopped by any means necessary

Our story picks up with Saul going to the high priest and asking permission to put in prison any followers of Jesus (also called followers of the Way) that he found in Damascus. But as he and his companions were going to Damascus, they saw a light and then heard a voice that said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The voice then told him to go into the city and wait to be told what to do.

Saul chose to obey this voice, which Luke says belonged to the Lord. He had never experienced anything like it. And further, the light had caused him to go blind.

Saul spent three days in the city waiting. He was blind and refused to eat or drink anything.

At that same time a man in Damascus named Ananias heard this same voice. Jesus told him to go and find Saul of Tarsus. Ananias knew who Saul of Tarsus was, and he didn’t want anything to do with him. Here’s what the Lord said in response:

Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.

So Ananias obeyed. He found Saul exactly where he was told he would find him. He laid hands on Saul. Saul could once again see. Then he baptized Saul.

I’m sure that there was an emotional connection that happened for Saul in this moment. But I also think it was a mental exercise. He had just spent three days isolated and scared, but during that time he must have been going back over everything he knew. And at some point there I think it began to make sense to him that the Jesus that he had been persecuting was in fact the Messiah that his people had been waiting for.

So Saul’s immediate response after having his vision restored and being baptized (and eating) was to channel his zeal into telling everyone about how he was rethinking everything (repentance).

You can imagine that those who heard him were pretty skeptical. Was this a trap? Even the apostles weren’t so sure about him when he came to Jerusalem to see them. Fortunately, a man named Barnabas believed his story and took him under his wing.

Here’s how Luke ends this section…

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in number (Acts 9:31).

The first five chapters of Acts fly by. There are so many stories that Luke crams in. Yet now he decides to take a full two chapters to tell the story of a man named Stephen. I honestly would love a bit more commentary on what had happened over the last few weeks, but apparently there is something important here that he wants to focus on. So who was Stephen?

We first meet Stephen during those early days when the Church was experiencing immense growth. People were being overlooked, so seven men known to be “full of the Spirit and wisdom” were chosen to help manage the beautiful chaos. Stephen was one of those.

When Stephen wasn’t bringing structure to chaos, he was telling people about Jesus. And he was demonstrating the kingdom through signs and wonders. He was a compelling presence, and people flocked to him. The religious leaders, yet again jealous, attempted to debate him but were no match.

So they convinced some men to say that they had heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.

Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin (a Jewish ruling body). The false witnesses testified against him. Those false witnesses said that Stephen was speaking against their law and saying that “this Jesus” wanted to change all of the customs that Moses had handed down to his people all of those many years ago.

I think the reason Luke includes such a long story is that, as we’ll see, this Jesus movement was about to expand past the Jewish people into the Gentile world. It would be good for those who enter this movement to understand the fuller story of the Jewish people.

So Stephen tells the Jewish people their own story. He begins with Abraham leaving everything he knew to go to a new place because he trusted God. He moved on to God rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt. Through both of these stories we see ordinary people placing their trust in a God who often invited his people to follow him in rather strange ways. But this God was over and over again revealed to be loving and faithful to his people.

Stephen then dives into the part of the story when God made them into a nation as they followed Joshua, and then into one of the greatest nations as they followed David and Solomon.

Throughout all of this, the crowd is nodding their heads. They like this guy. He knows his history, and he tells their history in such a compelling way. But then he turns. He calls them stiff-necked people. He says that their hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. He rebukes them for killing Jesus, who was sent by God, but also for killing those prophets who pointed to Jesus. He wants to remind them that throughout their history, their response to this faithful God was so often unfaithfulness. And so what they had done to Jesus was simply the culmination of their rebellious pattern.

This was too much for them. The members of the Sanhedrin were furious. In that moment, Stephen looked up to heaven and said, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Without a true trial the mob took Stephen outside of the city, circled up around him and stoned him. Stephen died that day. He is the first Christian martyr. And that day persecution was unleashed upon the Church.

There is one final detail that Luke shares at the end of this story. There was a young man in the crowd named Saul. Luke tells us that he approved of the killing.

It’s a difficult task being that I’ve been around the Bible and these stories for all of my life, but I like to try imagining hearing a story for the first time. I’ve tried especially hard to do this during the last month, and this morning it proved to be a helpful exercise.

A big question that comes in this moment is, “What happened to Peter?” Prior to the crucifixion, we see Peter talking a big game (I’ll die before I leave you, Jesus) but then doing exactly what Jesus said he would (deny he even knew him three times in a row). Peter was disappointed with himself. He felt tremendous shame. But something happened after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus spent time with Peter. He reaffirmed his love for him. He told him that it would be ok. And actually, it was going to be more than just ok. Jesus was still going to use Peter to build his church. It’s key to understand that Peter accepted this as fact, even though things still felt bad. He chose to trust Jesus.

So when the day of Pentecost came, Peter was ready to show the courage that he knew was in him. Further, a lot of thoughts had begun to solidify in those days after Jesus ascended. Things made sense in a new way. And then after what the Spirit did that Pentecost morning…now he was ready to dive in deeper.

So one afternoon Peter and John were going to the temple for prayer (Acts 3:1). They came upon a man who had been lame since birth. They had no doubt passed by this man many times, but this day they stopped. The man, as was his custom, asked them for money. What Peter says next is quite surprising.

“Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

The man gave him his hand, and Peter helped him up. Instantly his feet and ankles became strong, and he began to walk.

What had changed for Peter?

First, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead was now living in Peter (Ephesians 1:19). Even as I write this, I’m pretty sure I still fail to grasp just how big of a deal this truly is.

Second, Peter was ready to live from this reality rather than the one he had been living from before he met Jesus, and even during those three years he was with Jesus, which can best be described as trying to push his agenda on Jesus. Sure, this kind of living was risky, but why waste anymore time. He truly believed Jesus, and it was time to exercise this faith!

At this point a crowd has gathered, and this is the point in which I want to read with fresh eyes. Here’s how Luke describes what is going on…

When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him (Acts 3:10).

When you are filled with wonder and amazement, you want to know more. And so Peter took the moment to share what was going, and how what had just happened was connected with what God was doing. He tells them that they had a role to play in killing Jesus, whom he calls the author of life. He reminds them that they handed him over to Pilate, pushing him even when he believed no crime had been committed. They killed him, but God raised him from the dead.

It’s been around two months since the death and resurrection of Jesus, and I can’t imagine that anyone there hasn’t heard the stories. But this time the stories land in a new way in their hearts. They truly want to know more.

Peter acknowledges that they were ignorant when they played their role in killing the Messiah. But he offers them the opportunity to repent (to rethink everything). He offers them the opportunity to turn back to God. If they do that, their sins will be wiped out, and times of refreshing will come. He shares this because he too has experienced it.

Before Peter could finish, the religious leaders suddenly appear and arrest Peter and John. Remember, they thought Jesus’ followers would scatter once Jesus was put to death. They thought the rebellion would fail. But it has done the exact opposite. So now they have to get rid of these leaders.

But it didn’t matter. The love and grace of God was spreading faster than anyone could imagine. People were taking Peter up on this offer of repentance. In this day alone Luke says that the number of men who believed was now up to 5000.

The religious leaders could see what was happening, and they knew they couldn’t lock up Peter and John. The people wouldn’t have it, especially after what had just happened. They ended up scolding them and letting them go.

We’ve spent the last month looking at the life of Jesus. We’re now going to spend the rest of the year looking at what happened next. It’s the birth of the Church. Jesus’ last words to his disciples were that he was leaving them, but the story was far from over. God was going to send the promised Holy Spirit to them, and this Spirit would continue God’s work inside each of them. This Spirit would form a unique and diverse community, and would use them to change the world.

Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait. So that’s what they did. It worked out that a lot of Jewish people had either stayed in Jerusalem, or were now back, as it was Pentecost. The Jewish people who were there were from all over. They spoke different languages and had different customs. But what brought them together was their allegiance to Yahweh.

On the morning of Pentecost something happened. There was a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, and there appeared to be tongues of fire that was resting on each one of them. Note that this description comes from Acts 2. I have no idea what this looked like. But it was wild. What happened next was even wilder. They began speaking in languages that they didn’t know, but those people who had traveled from far away lands recognized it as their languages.

Peter, who just weeks before had been such a wreck after not standing beside Jesus, felt like he should speak to those who were wondering what had happened. During the 40 days that Jesus was with them after his resurrection, Peter had been restored. He knew that Jesus loved him. He knew that Jesus had changed his life, and he desperately wanted to believe about himself what Jesus believed about him.

So he stood and he addressed the crowd. He let them know that they had not had too much to drink (some thought that was what was going on). No, this was fulfilling prophecy. God was sending his Spirit to continue the work that Jesus had begun. He told them that part of the plan of God was that Jesus would die an unjust death but then rise from the dead.

He invited them to repent and be baptized. Luke, who recorded all of this in the book of Acts, says that 3000 were added to their number that day.

What happens next is quite amazing. Some of those 3000 people were from Jerusalem, but most were not. They had come just for this festival, and they were planning on going back home soon. But most of them didn’t want to go now that they had experienced this.

Here’s how Luke describes their life together…

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God, and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47

Before we continue with the story, I think it’s important to remember that Jesus had told his followers that he was going to die, but that he wasn’t going to stay dead (Matthew 16:21). But I don’t think it ever truly registered. The emotions in this current moment that they find themselves in are just too big, and they aren’t sure how to respond. After all, it wasn’t that many days ago that Jesus was ushered into Jerusalem as a coming king. And now, just like that, he’s been arrested, tried and executed as a criminal. It’s just too much.

The story picks up on Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene and a couple of other women go to the tomb in order to anoint Jesus’ body. It seems that everything had been moving so fast when he died that they didn’t get a chance to do this before Joseph of Arimathea had him placed in the tomb. But as they are on their way, they realize that there’s a big problem that they hadn’t thought about. There is a large stone in front of the tomb. How would they get inside?

But when the arrive, they find that the stone had been rolled away. They have no idea how that could have happened. So they go inside. But they don’t see a body. Instead, they see “a young man dressed in a white robe” (Mark 16:5). They are no doubt puzzled and scared. The young man says the following:

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will se him, just as he told you” (Matthew 16:6-7).

This does not alleviate their fears – they were now officially freaked out! They left the tomb in a hurry, but they did what they were told. They found Peter and John and told them what had happened. Peter and John run to the tomb to find an empty tomb.

Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene is at the empty tomb, all alone with her grief and shock. A man comes up to her and asks why she is crying. She thinks it’s the gardener. So she explains what has happened, and then man, who is actually Jesus, simply says her name. In that moment she realizes who he is, and she is overjoyed.

Word quickly gets back to the religious leaders that the tomb is empty. There’s no way they can allow rumors to spread that this man they’ve just killed, who might actually be the Messiah, has now come back to life. So they pay off the soldiers and tell them to say that the disciples stole the body.

Later that day the disciples were all together in a room, when suddenly Jesus was there. He said to them, “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36). This didn’t bring them peace. They were scared out of their minds. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. But it was really him!

Jesus spent the next 40 days with his friends. And then he took them up to a mountain. He was leaving them, but he wanted to commission them to continue on with the work that he had begun. His last instructions to them were to stay in Jerusalem (the one place they wanted to leave), and wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then he ascended into heaven.