“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for
he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his
disciples that he has risen from the dead,. . .” (Matthew 28:5b-7a)
Sometimes it is difficult for believers to communicate the message that Jesus died and
rose from the dead to people who do not know Him. It defies logic. And yet the proof of
this great miracle rests upon the testimony of eyewitnesses who, at first, could not make
sense of the reality of what Jesus had accomplished. His resurrection is the greatest
miracle that He ever performed. It also serves as the most convincing evidence that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. And that is cause for great rejoicing. We
see that joy in the gospel accounts of the events that occurred on the day of the
resurrection. That joy did not happen immediately for, as we know, the disciples had
experienced great fear and confusion because of the crucifixion. Consequently when
they first heard of the disappearance of the body from Mary Magdalene and other
women, they were extremely skeptical. Why believe the testimony of hysterical women?
They were unreliable.
We cannot really fault the disciples for how they reacted. Although they had seen Jesus
raise people from the dead, the idea of someone raising himself was so foreign to their
way of thinking that it made no sense. Only by faith does it make sense. Despite our so-
called advanced scientific minds and methods, we cannot explain it or reason it out. We
must accept it as the the truth because the Word and of God testifies that these things
are so. And with that truth alive in our hearts we go forth into the world to tell others.