So, it’s Easter Monday, the morning after the Resurrection day…I wonder what the disciples were thinking on this day?
The past week had to have been one of the most exciting, challenging, uplifting, depressing, devastating weeks that the twelve disciples could have ever lived.
Starting with Palm Sunday, coming to Jerusalem, seeing the crowds of people placing the palm leaves ahead of the Messiah. Things were finally falling in place for their leader!
Monday, watching the frustration and anger as Jesus went about cleaning out the temple (again). Oh, and watching Him pass by that fig tree and giving it a good cursing. Not the most cheerful of days.
Tuesday, a run-in with the local law, along with a trip up the Mount of Olives for what would become the last of His teaching opportunities, clinging to His words, still not realizing that His kingdom that was “at hand” was not a kingdom of the world as they knew it.
Wednesday…it must have been the calm before the storm, it’s a quiet time in the gospels.
Thursday started with the high emotions of the Passover dinner in the upper room, sharing the traditions of their forefathers, but then things started going downhill so soon after: the sadness and grief as He prayed in the garden, followed by the acceptance of what was to come: the betrayal, the arrest, the false trial and conviction of their leader.
Friday, they were struck with grief as they watched their loved one die on that cross. Shock that one of their very own group could be so shallow and selfish as to sell out their leader. Removing His body from that cross, taking it to a tomb, a borrowed one at that, and having to just leave it there, not being properly prepared for burial. Having to hurry back to their homes before the Sabbath began, as there was no time to properly grieve their loss.
Saturday must have been a day filled with shock. I can imagine the disciples feeling shattered, betrayed, and abandoned. The very worst had happened. How could He have allowed Himself to be crucified? How could one of their own have turned against their leader? Had they just wasted the past 3 years of their lives on a wild, crazy dream of a new way of life, giving up everything they owned, to follow someone who had so much to promise, and instead, who was to be betrayed and judged and crucified, just like the two criminals whose crosses flanked His? I’m sure they were exhausted…physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
But then, came Sunday, with the women of the group coming to the tomb to take care of the body, instead, finding it empty, seeing the angels, seeing the LORD, the RISEN LORD!
I’m thinking of how these women must have run to tell the disciples, then coming back to the tomb yet again, seeing Him standing there, reaching out to show them His hands, to prove that He was really their Jesus, and that He really was alive! What excitement, joy, relief, and awe they must have felt, when they were able to see and talk with Him again!
What an incredibly great ending to an otherwise hopeless week!
And now, it’s Monday. There’s always a Monday to follow the weekend, isn’t there? Back to work, back to the routine and the job that is set before you.
Was it business as usual for the disciples? Did they just get up and go about their day, off to the fishing boats, back to the lives that they led before they started following Jesus? Was the Resurrection just a happy memory of a great day? Was it something to put on the calendar … something to plan to celebrate again at this same time next year? Oh, I think not!
Because the story didn’t end on Easter Sunday. The disciples had been given a mission straight from the lips of the risen Lord Himself. These disciples, who had been in training for three years, now had the business of sharing the full story of good news…that little baby who was born in Bethlehem, who grew to be the man called Jesus, who was crucified in Jerusalem, is now alive again and is the Messiah! They were given the task to share the news that He lives…that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, that He was crucified, and that by believing in Him your sins are forgiven, and that He is with you always. And that same mission has been given to each who believe. With whom will you share the good news of the risen Christ?
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28: 19-20
And we (and millions upon millions more) are the result of Easter Monday. Praise God they followed the commands of the One who died and rose and is now living. “An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.”