Two Meetings in Jerusalem after the Resurrection
By Joe David
Late on the first Easter Sunday, after the Lord had risen from the sepulcher, ten of the disciples gathered for the evening in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem (John 20). They were afraid and probably confused. Since their leader had been crucified by the Roman power, as organized by their own Jewish leaders, they feared that now his followers might also be hunted down and punished. They closed and locked the doors. Were any of the women there? The story does not say, but Peter and John were, who saw and talked with the angels that morning, and the stories of the women were known. Some time must have been spent wondering and perhaps arguing - was He really alive? How could they know it was really Him? This kind of thing, coming back to life after you’re dead, this doesn’t happen in this real world, there must be some mistake!
Then two of the followers, not of the twelve, but the two that had gone to the village of Emmaus, came in, excited and bursting with their news. They had seen Him! They had walked with Him for seven miles and He had told them wondrous things! They had only recognized Him when He broke bread and ate with them. "Don’t doubt us, it really was Jesus!"
And then as they all talked and argued, there He was, standing with them in the room. "Peace be unto you," He said, and He showed them His hands and feet and His side, where he was wounded. He calmed them, and told them that just as he had come down to mankind, so they must go out and teach to all people all the true things that He had taught in the years He was with them.
It was these truths about how to live one’s life that were saving, not the disciples themselves. These saving truths have the power to remit or retain sins, because they were from the Lord, the disciples only transmitted them from the Lord to those who would listen and take them to heart. Then He breathed on them - representing His holy spirit - so that they would not only want to pass these truths on to people, but would also be given the words to say whenever the times came. And then He was gone again.
Thomas was not there that night. We don’t know why. And Thomas, when he heard the story, just could not swallow it. "Except I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe", he said. (John 20:25.)
The next verse tells us that the next Sunday they gathered again, and that Thomas was present this time. As before, the Lord was suddenly there, saying again, "Peace be unto you", and then directly to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger… and reach hither thy hand… and be not faithless but believing". Now Thomas's response was, "my Lord and my God". It seems as if the Lord came this time just to convince Thomas, because it was Thomas who needed Him.
I think He does work this way. I am reminded of another story, from the gospel of Mark (Mark 9:17-27) where a father comes to Jesus with a young son who is possessed by a devil, and asks Jesus to cure him, and is asked in turn: "Do you believe I can do this?" In Mark 9:24 the father responds. Crying out, he said with tears, "I believe, help thou my unbelief."
I think many people have this conflict between lingering doubts and a desire to have the doubts taken away. If we carry on and make our decisions in life as if the doubts were indeed gone, then indeed they will lose their strength and actually will be gone.
These are the only details given of these two meetings in Jerusalem. Chronologically the next post-Easter stories are the ones that take place in Galilee.
John does go on to say at the end of his gospel "...many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God...." (John 20:30-31). Perhaps there were more post-Easter stories that weren't written down, but the ones we do have are strong. For the disciples who were involved, there was an unstoppable impact from the life and teachings of the Lord, and His crucifixion, and physical death, and now - in these stories - His resurrection. Hearing the Lord's charges to them, these Galilean fishermen and their colleagues launch out into the wide world, and work to achieve the Great Commission, enduring hardships and persecution, and succeeding - probably beyond their wildest dreams!
Luke 19
1
He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2
There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3
He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short.
4
He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
5
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
6
He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7
When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
8
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
9
Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
11
As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately.
12
He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
13
He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins, and told them, 'Conduct business until I come.'
14
But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over us.'
15
"It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business.
16
The first came before him, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.'
17
"He said to him, 'Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.'
18
"The second came, saying, 'Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.'
19
"So he said to him, 'And you are to be over five cities.'
20
Another came, saying, 'Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief,
21
for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn't lay down, and reap that which you didn't sow.'
22
"He said to him, 'Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn't lay down, and reaping that which I didn't sow.
23
Then why didn't you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?'
24
He said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.'
25
"They said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas!'
26
'For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.
27
But bring those enemies of mine who didn't want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.'"
28
Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29
It happened, when he drew near to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples,
30
saying, "Go your way into the village on the other side, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat. Untie it, and bring it.
31
If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say to him: 'The Lord needs it.'"
32
Those who were sent went away, and found things just as he had told them.
33
As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34
They said, "The Lord needs it."
35
They brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on the colt, and set Jesus on them.
36
As he went, they spread their cloaks in the way.
37
As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen,
38
saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!"
39
Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
40
He answered them, "I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out."
41
When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,
42
saying, "If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
43
For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side,
44
and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn't know the time of your visitation."
45
He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,
46
saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of robbers'!"
47
He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him.
48
They couldn't find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.
