The Week After Easter

This past week was a very fascinating week in the life of a church if you stop & think about it. We celebrated Easter last Sunday with special services & music. The church builds toward Easter for weeks but then as soon as Easter is over – it’s almost like back to business as usual. Normal services, normal activities.

But I want you to know something – it wasn’t back to business as usual for Jesus’ disciples & close followers the week after Easter. Most of them had seen Him crucified. And then wonder of wonders, He had risen from the dead. He had appeared to them on Sunday. You have His appearances to Mary Magdalene & to the other women; His appearance to Peter, to the men on the road to Emmaus & then to the other disciples, minus Thomas, later that evening. It had been quite a day for the disciples too.

Now the question I want you to ponder for a few moments is: what was it like on Monday for these disciples & followers of Christ? How about on Tuesday or Wednesday? I don’t know for sure if we have all the appearances of the Lord recorded for us or not but if we do then it was not until the next Sunday (today) that He appeared again – which was when He appeared to all 11 disciples & had His encounter with Thomas recorded for us in John 20. So what was going on in their minds & in their lives after those Easter Sunday appearances & the realization that Jesus really was alive?

? Were they looking for Him to appear again the next day (Monday)?

? Were they disappointed at the end of the day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. when there had been no

appearance? I mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & no appearances. What were

they thinking/feeling?

? Luke tells us that as Jesus walked with the 2 on the road to Emmaus that beginning w/ Moses & all the

prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

? So maybe Cleopas & his friend had shared w/ the disciples what Jesus taught them & maybe they were w/

them during the week or part of the week for we do know the 2 of them returned to Jerusalem that Sunday

evening. In fact, 24:36 indicates that it was while all this reporting was going on that Jesus made his

appearance to the group…

? So maybe the disciples & followers of Christ spent the week pouring over OT scrolls rereading & studying &

discussing all those OT prophecies & references to Christ. That would have been an exciting Bible study to

have been involved in. [Can’t you just hear it as they searched out the prophecies - “Hey guys, here’s another

one!”]

? Or were they cautiously excited yet still huddled behind lock doors in fear? When Jesus appeared to them on

the following Sunday, they were behind locked doors as they had been on Easter Sunday.

? Did they have “spies” out trying to gather information about what the religious leaders & even the Romans

were saying in light of the “rumors” of Jesus’ resurrection? Were they trying to get a sense of the mood &

direction of the religious leaders?

? And of course 1 of the long-time unanswered questions for me has been: what about those saints that were

brought back to life when Jesus died & then went into Jerusalem & was seen by many (Matt.27:52-53).

? Matthew 27:51-53 – “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth

shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen

asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and

appeared to many.”

? What happened to them? Did they connect up with the disciples? I sure would want to talk with them. And

say what you want to about the disciples stealing Jesus’ body but what do you say about dead people

coming back to life in connection w/ Jesus’ dying & being seen by many people?

But back to my question: What was this past week like for them? I present these as possible scenarios. One of the things I try to do in reading Scripture is interject myself into the scene & try to imagine what would be going on & what the people involved would be doing or how they would responding. I think that helps you get a better sense of the passage.

After Easter is over it is easy for us to forget about what it was like for Jesus’ disciples & followers during this week. And I really don’t have a good answer b/c we are not told. The only possible report we have of anything that transpired with the disciples that week is in John 20:24-25 of the 10 telling Thomas about seeing the Lord, but we are not even sure when that happened – late Sunday evening or some other time during the week. I will tell you – this is 1 of those occasions when I would have loved to be privy to their conversations throughout the week.