WHAT is NEXT?

 APRIL 21, 2022

 Philippians 3:10

 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

Here is a question for us to think about today.

What were the days 

following Jesus’ resurrection 

like for the first disciples?

Jesus had died, they witnessed his death and experienced the trauma and grief of that death, and they also saw with their own eyes that he was dead no longer. Just as He promised, He had overcome death, the last enemy. But what did it all mean?

My thought is that it must have taken time for Jesus’ followers to grasp the events that had taken place the previous week. It wouldn’t be an easy thing to process all this stuff, would it? However, before returning to his Father, Jesus helped His followers, as he had done so often in his pre-resurrection ministry, to realize some of the implications of their experience. We read “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets he (Jesus) explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Lk. 24:27


His death and resurrection were not some deviations in God’s plan. They were the plan. Luke 24:26 asks, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” His defeat of the grave anticipated the time when all of creation would be “set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Rom. 8:21



The resurrection of Jesus Christ is meant to change our lives. Far too often in my faith journey I have found myself on the wrong side of Easter. Has that happened to you? What I mean is I live as though Jesus is still in the tomb, I do not live in the freedom and liberty that the resurrection invites us into. I continue to battle harmful attitudes and actions in my own strength, I am ashamed to say that there are times when I pursue life outside God’s provision in Christ, and battle with nagging fears. Can any of you relate to this?

Here is the good news, the God of Resurrection is the loving and patient God who comes along side of us in our doubts, in our missteps, in our fruitless life pursuits, just like Jesus did with his disciples following the resurrection. They doubted, remember Thomas? They were behind locked doors of fear. Some went back to fishing. Yet Jesus comes to them, not shaking a finger at them because they were struggling to comprehend something he told them would happen, rather Jesus comes, the Bible tells us and gently helps them comprehend the implications of resurrection life. Sometimes I need that. I am willing to guess that some of you do too.

May we allow our loving Jesus to lead us to what we might call the “right side of Easter”, that place of new life, new hope, and boundless opportunities.