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An Empty Tomb—Jesus Is Alive!Jesus—The Way, the Truth, the Life
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CHAPTER 134
An Empty Tomb—Jesus Is Alive!
MATTHEW 28:3-15 MARK 16:5-8 LUKE 24:4-12 JOHN 20:2-18
JESUS IS RESURRECTED
EXPERIENCES AT JESUS’ TOMB
HE APPEARS TO VARIOUS WOMEN
What a shock it is for the women to discover what appears to be an empty burial place! Mary Magdalene runs off to “Simon Peter and to the other disciple, for whom Jesus had affection”—the apostle John. (John 20:2) However, the other women at the tomb see an angel. And inside the memorial tomb is another angel, who is “clothed in a white robe.”—Mark 16:5.
One of the angels tells them: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was executed on the stake. He is not here, for he was raised up, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he was raised up from the dead, for look! he is going ahead of you into Galilee.” (Matthew 28:5-7) So “trembling and overwhelmed with emotion,” the women run to report to the disciples.—Mark 16:8.
By now, Mary has found Peter and John. Breathlessly, she reports: “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” (John 20:2) Peter and John take off running. John is faster and reaches the tomb first. He peers into it and sees the bandages, but he remains outside.
When Peter arrives, he goes right in. He sees the linen cloths and the cloth used to wrap Jesus’ head. John now enters, and he believes Mary’s report. Despite what Jesus said earlier, neither of them understands that he has been raised up. (Matthew 16:21) Puzzled, they head home. But Mary, who has come back to the tomb, remains there.
Meanwhile, the other women are on their way to tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised. While they are running to do so, Jesus meets them and says: “Good day!” They fall at his feet and ‘do obeisance to him.’ Then Jesus says: “Have no fear! Go, report to my brothers so that they may go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”—Matthew 28:9, 10.
Earlier, when the earthquake occurred and the angels appeared, the soldiers at the tomb “trembled and became as dead men.” After recovering, they entered the city and “reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.” The priests then consulted with elders of the Jews. The decision was made to bribe the soldiers to hide the matter and to claim: “His disciples came in the night and stole him while we were sleeping.”—Matthew 28:4, 11, 13.
Roman soldiers can be put to death if they fall asleep at their post, so the priests promise: “If this [their lie about having been asleep] gets to the governor’s ears, we will explain the matter to him and you will not need to worry.” (Matthew 28:14) The soldiers take the bribe and do what the priests say. Thus the false story of Jesus’ body being stolen spreads widely among the Jews.
Mary Magdalene is still grieving at the tomb. Stooping forward to look into it, she sees two angels in white! One sits at the head of where Jesus’ body had been lying and the other at the foot. “Woman, why are you weeping?” they ask. Mary answers: “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Turning around, Mary sees someone else. He repeats the angels’ question and adds: “Whom are you looking for?” Thinking that he is the gardener, she says: “Sir, if you have carried him off, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”—John 20:13-15.
Actually, Mary is speaking to the resurrected Jesus, but at the moment she does not recognize him. However, when he says, “Mary!” she knows that it is Jesus, recognizing him by the familiar way he speaks to her. “Rabboni!” (meaning, “Teacher!”), Mary exclaims joyfully. Yet, afraid that he is about to ascend to heaven, she grabs hold of him. Hence, Jesus urges her: “Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.’”—John 20:16, 17.
Mary runs to the place where the apostles and other disciples are gathered. She tells them: “I have seen the Lord!” adding her account to what they have heard from the other women. (John 20:18) Yet, the reports ‘seem like nonsense to them.’—Luke 24:11.
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The Resurrected Jesus Appears to ManyJesus—The Way, the Truth, the Life
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CHAPTER 135
The Resurrected Jesus Appears to Many
JESUS APPEARS ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS
HE REPEATEDLY OPENS UP THE SCRIPTURES TO HIS DISCIPLES
THOMAS CEASES TO DOUBT
On Sunday, Nisan 16, the disciples are in low spirits. They do not grasp the meaning of the empty tomb. (Matthew 28:9, 10; Luke 24:11) Later in the day, Cleopas and another disciple leave Jerusalem for Emmaus, which is about seven miles (11 km) away.
As they walk, they discuss what has occurred. Then a stranger joins them. He asks: “What are these matters that you are debating between yourselves as you walk along?” Cleopas replies: “Are you a stranger dwelling alone in Jerusalem and do not know the things that have occurred there during these days?” The stranger asks: “What things?”—Luke 24:17-19.
“The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene,” they say. “We were hoping that this man was the one who was going to deliver Israel.”—Luke 24:19-21.
Cleopas and his companion go on to relate things that happened that very day. They say that some women who went to the tomb where Jesus was buried found it empty and that these women were eyewitnesses to a supernatural event—the appearance of angels who said that Jesus is alive. They report that others also went to the tomb and “found it just as the women had said.”—Luke 24:24.
The two disciples are clearly bewildered as to the meaning of what has occurred. The stranger responds with authority to correct their wrong thinking, which is affecting their hearts: “O senseless ones and slow of heart to believe all the things the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25, 26) He goes on to interpret for them many Scriptural passages pertaining to the Christ.
Finally the three arrive near Emmaus. The two disciples want to hear more, so they urge the stranger: “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is nearly over.” He agrees to stay, and they have a meal. As the stranger says a prayer, breaks bread, and hands it to them, they recognize him, but then he disappears. (Luke 24:29-31) Now they know for sure that Jesus is alive!
The two disciples excitedly comment on what they experienced: “Were not our hearts burning within us as he was speaking to us on the road, as he was fully opening up the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) They hurry back to Jerusalem, where they find the apostles and others with them. Before Cleopas and his companion can give a report, they hear others say: “For a fact the Lord was raised up, and he appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34) Then the two tell how Jesus appeared to them. Yes, they too are eyewitnesses.
Now all are shocked—Jesus appears in the room! This seems unbelievable because they locked the doors out of fear of the Jews. Still, Jesus is standing right in their midst. He calmly says: “May you have peace.” But they are frightened. As they did once before, they are ‘imagining that they are seeing a spirit.’—Luke 24:36, 37; Matthew 14:25-27.
To prove that he is no apparition or something they merely imagine but, rather, that he does have a fleshly body, Jesus shows them his hands and feet and says: “Why are you troubled, and why have doubts come up in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:36-39) They are overjoyed and amazed but still somewhat reluctant to believe.
Further attempting to help them to see that he is real, he asks: “Do you have something there to eat?” He accepts a piece of broiled fish and eats it. Then he says: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was yet with you [before my death], that all the things written about me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms must be fulfilled.”—Luke 24:41-44.
Jesus had helped Cleopas and his companion to understand the Scriptures, and he does so now for all those gathered there: “This is what is written: that the Christ would suffer and rise from among the dead on the third day, and on the basis of his name, repentance for forgiveness of sins would be preached in all the nations—starting out from Jerusalem. You are to be witnesses of these things.”—Luke 24:46-48.
For some reason the apostle Thomas is not present. In the following days, others joyfully tell him: “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas responds: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will never believe it.”—John 20:25.
Eight days later, the disciples are again meeting behind locked doors, but this time Thomas is present. Jesus appears in their midst in a materialized body and greets them: “May you have peace.” Turning to Thomas, Jesus says: “Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop doubting but believe.” Thomas exclaims: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:26-28) Yes, he now has no doubts that Jesus is alive as a divine being who is Jehovah God’s representative.
“Because you have seen me, have you believed?” Jesus says. “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”—John 20:29.
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