Apr 8, 2007 - He is risen...

Apr 8, 2007

Luke 24

36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

When growing up, I used to think why where the apostles were so afraid? Didn't they live three years of their lives with him? Didn't they understand He would be bringing in a new kingdom reign? Yes they did, but they also did not understand that He would die and rise again. They did not fully understand. With our sanitized version I am not sure that we would either.

This weekend, my kids and I went to see ‘He’s Alive’ at Victory Christian Center in Tulsa. One of the things that they did was to display Jesus being whipped and taking His cross across the town. I was close enough to have taken a picture of it and I did. Victory did not try to sanitize anything here. They showed the raw skin of Jesus (or at least it looked that way). You can see the photo at: http://picasaweb.google.com/doc.bob/HeSAlive/photo#5051171828060968850 . My 10 year old daughter actually grabbed my arm as he passed. When I told her that the real thing was much worse, she had a hard time believing it.

Not only had the disciples gone through seeing this horrible site, but they could not understand why, when He was the son of God, did He not do something to bring about His earthly reign. He was doing, it, but not the way they were expecting it. So, their hopes of Jesus doing what He said he would were now gone. And He was dead, and the body stolen. Yes, they had heard the reports that day of people saying that they had seen Him. They must have chalked it up to wishful thinking.

When Jesus walked in, they did not understand. They thought they were seeing His ghost. They were afraid. Jesus had to bring peace to them. Now think about what they went through. Now think about the problems that you are going through. Do you think yours are worse than the disciples? If Jesus brought them peace, do you think that He can bring it to you today? Will you let Him?