John 20:19-23
Jesus Appears After His Death
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
John 20:26-28
Jesus Appears Again to His Disciples
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Mark 14:61
Son of the Blessed One
61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
John 11:25-26
Jesus is the Resurrection
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Acts 4:1-22
Unschooled, Ordinary Men Spreading the Word
1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
John 3:16
God Loves Us and the World
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Why would someone follow some criminal who just died on a cross?...It would take some coaxing perhaps, some faith perhaps, but mostly a resurrection -that would have someone follow a criminal, who had just been crucified...The resurrection is the most important historical fact for man...Without the resurrection would the disciples have carried on Jesus' name and teachings?...God alone knows...
After Jesus death, the disciples were behind doors that were locked, in fear of the the Jews, the Jewish officials, and the Sanhedrin...Then He appears and says “Peace be with you!”...Even after Jesus' first appearance, the disciples still fear that the Jews may do something to them, since they followed Him and His teachings the closest...After all, what had He done to deserve His death on a cross...Might they be the next arrested...Might they too, be crucified...
A week later their doors remained locked again and Jesus appears to them for the second time...And again He says "Peace be with you!"...And then it seems Thomas realizes who Jesus is, and maybe all of them realize -yes, in fact, He is our LORD and our God...And when Thomas says this, it is almost an expression of surprise and to paraphrase the one doubting -yes, You are God in the flesh...And yet, Jesus had done a resurrection of someone who had died in each of the four gospels, and said one of His most remarkable statements, "I am the resurrection and the life...He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die...Do you believe this?"...
The fear of the Jews and the officials would wane...The disciples would soon gain much courage...Peter and John would go public about Jesus and meet head to head with the ones they had feared...The very ones who had Jesus crucified and had them arrested -they were now being questioned by them...But now the disciples would not back down...Peter says to them it was them whom crucified Jesus, but God had raised Him from the dead...Their fear is gone, they have the courage now to die for their Teacher...
And their is much irony in the resurrection...The death on the cross was for our sins...Jesus was a Jew from Israel...The top Jewish officials had Him arrested...The High Priest is in the middle of having Him arrested...The High Priest is supposed to be one very close to God -yet, he could not see who the Son of the Blessed One was...
Jesus' death is part of God's Plan, yet it was men and their own free will who killed Him on a cross, but God did raise Him from the dead, and gave Him life again...For those who believe in this story, and who embody His message and His teachings, the resurrection is the miracle of miracles...He has risen!!!!...If this was truly God's Plan, one must expect the life and death of His Son to have an everlasting effect...Yet, the story is not only filled with irony, it is filled with strangeness...How and why would the very officials let His word be taught and become the number one religion in the Roman Empire in the next few centuries?...
And those that follow Him, especially His earliest of followers, were following an executed criminal, who had been hung on a cross by Roman authorities...No wonder they kept their doors locked...And these odd stories are not only filled with irony, strangeness, remarkable statements, and miracles, but more importantly all laced with Love and Grace...God sent His Son out of Love, to help us...He sent Him to fix a broken world and show His Love and Grace to us...He did this because He Loves us and the world...A very odd and strange story but one that Jesus' followers believe...Do you believe this?...