Exploring the Gospels and the Life of Christ
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Your team leader is dead. You and your friends are being hunted and are in fear of the local authorities. Your bright vision and hope for a new world are slowly fading. So, what now? This is particularly the kind of atmosphere that has for the past three days surrounded Jesuss disciples and has filled the air in Jerusalem. The story is, however, different today, Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was crucified on the cross by the Romans, has today made a record of the dead and buried in Jerusalem and has resurrected.
Jesus, the King of the Jews, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified and buried three days ago, spent the better part of his life in Jerusalem City, preaching and teaching the gospel. Today being the third day, and a day after the Sabbath day, the city of Jerusalem has since been alarmed with reports and rumors of the risen Jesus. Many who have heard of his resurrection have doubted and disregarded the reports. On the other hand, a few who have seen and witnessed the empty tomb are not only in shock but are the gold standards in giving an account of what happened at the tomb, earlier today.
By midday, the entire city of Jerusalem was bewildered, and people walked in small crowds whispering and rumoring about the resurrection of Jesus. Some that I met were afraid of saying a word while others still did not believe anything that they heard. Making my way through the little-now-turned-huge crowd that was forming in Galilee, I spotted Mary Magdalene, who in the company of other two women, was narrating what she had witnessed.
According to the three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, and Salome, who with their own eyes, had seen the empty tomb, today being a day after Sabbath, it had come with a holy hush. Confessing what they were up to, the three women point out that they had set for the tomb anoint it with spices (Mark: 16). Much to their distress and confusion, a violent earthquake shook the entire place as an angel clothed in white had descended from heaven and rolled back the stone and sat on it (Mathew: 28).
There was a violent earthquake and an angel whose appearance was like lightening and his clothes, white as snow, appeared and sat on the rolled stone, reported one of the guards, who had been appointed by Pontius Pilate to guard the tomb (Mathew 28: 2). Certainly, the events happening at that particular moment had shocked and startled the witnesses.
Mary Magdalene, who I met at Galilee, expressed her mixed emotions of fear, yet joyous feelings as she narrated to me what she had witnessed. She explained that upon realizing their shock, the angel who sat at the tomb asked them not to be afraid, as Jesus of Nazareth who they were looking for had risen! The angel asked us to go report to the disciples what we had witnessed and ask them to accompany us to this place, Galilee where we would meet the risen Jesus, Mary mother of James said (Mark 16: 7).
The eleven disciples, on the other hand, have spent the past three days behind closed doors for fear of an ambush by the Jewish leaders. The evening of this fateful day, however, almost miraculously, Jesus appears to them as they sat at the table and showed them his nailed hands and pierced side so that they would indeed believe that he rose (John, 20: 19). In his final remarks, he asks that Peace be with the disciples and commanded them to go out and make disciples, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28: 19).
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