Today's scripture: John 20:1-10
I still find it so amazing that the disciples "did not understand that Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." Jesus told them on several occasions that He would do exactly that.
While Matthew 12:40; 16:21; Mark 8:31; and John 2:19 all allude Jesus' death and resurrection, His words in Matthew 20:17-19 couldn't have made it more clear:
As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took his twelve disciples aside and told them in private: We are now on our way to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death, and then they will hand him over to foreigners who will make fun of him. They will beat him and nail him to a cross. But on the third day he will rise from death. (emphasis mine, CEV)Jesus took them step-by-step through His arrest, trial, sentence, torture, death, and resurrection.
And yet, when Peter and John went to the tomb, they didn't understand that Jesus had really risen from the dead. Certainly, verse eight of today's scripture says John "saw and believe," but one has to ask: Did he believe that Jesus was alive, or did he merely believe Mary's words that Jesus' body was no longer in the tomb?
I'd tend to argue for the latter. Why? Because John merely "went away again to [his] own home." If he really believe that Jesus was alive, wouldn't he have been more excited? Wouldn't he have rushed to tell everyone that the Master was alive?
I do have to give Peter and John a break, though. Yes, Jesus had told them exactly what would happen to Him, but I might not have truly understood either. Jesus was their Messiah, and they hoped He'd be a conquering hero. His dying didn't fit with that idea.
Even more, we today have the evidence before us. Jesus did die, and He did rise from the dead. Biblical and extra-biblical sources prove this to be true.
Yet, so many don't understand.
Just as Peter and John didn't understand so many years ago ...
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