seeing is believing | John 20.8-10

WEDNESDAY
This week’s reading: John 20.1-18

 

REFLECT

Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. John 20.8-10  |  ESV

Now that other disciple (you know, the one who got to the tomb first?) stepped in. And getting a closer look, he believed – for even though ancient Scripture made clear he had to rise from the dead, they were oblivious to that. So off they went, the disciples back to home base trying to sort it all out.
MAV (Mike’s Amplified Version)

 

RECEIVE

This is so human, so like us. Real life doesn’t play out like a script.

With hindsight we see ancient texts that clearly point to resurrection – from “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” in Psalm 2 to “You will not allow your Holy One to see decay” in Psalm 16. We read those repeated “heads-up” moments of Jesus with the disciples: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

And then we shake our heads and wonder, “What was wrong with them?” Why aren’t they camped outside the tomb waiting for the blessed moment? Why instead are they cowering in the dark behind closed doors, fearing every strange knock in the night? Oblivious to the Scripture they heard week after week in their own synagogues, likewise oblivious to what seem to be point-blank, can’t-be-missed statements of Jesus made right in their faces.

Yes, so like us.

We too tend to miss it for the most part, don’t we? Resurrection life breaking in around us, in us, through us, and we stand there breathless with Peter and John in the empty tomb before empty grave clothes, slowly connecting the dots, slowly concluding, “He must have risen.”

It’s why I believe this story.

Not only did it happen – it still happens.
And we are its living and reliving characters.

 

RELATE

What have you seen that caused you to believe? Or are you still running to the tomb for proof?

 

RESPOND

Lord, here I stand, breathless in the tomb before the undeniable evidence of Life beyond it. Let the reality of Life sink into this too often hard, cynical, disbelieving heart, and let genuine faith arise in me. Through Christ.