The Resurrection of Jesus (2)

All right, let's pick up in John chapter 20 tonight, John chapter 20. We are looking at the events of the resurrection and we talked a little bit last week and introducing this that probably the most difficult area of the gospels to harmonize, to get all the details in the right order. It has to do with the resurrection because all four of the gospels cover it. They cover it in pretty great detail, but they cover it with different perspectives and different details. And so there's a lot of material to fit together and it's not always easy to know exactly where things go. And so we're doing our best to try to put it in order and we'll see how that works. But let me for that reason because it's so important to kind of get the progression of events. Let me remind you of what we talked about last week. We began with the early confusion of his followers and that's what starts. That's what happens at the very beginning. There's just a, it's very chaotic and everything is very confusing and there's kind of a shelter, shelter, type, feel to what's going on in the first hours of the day on that Sunday. We saw last week that the first thing that happened is the women go to the tomb and there were several women that went to the tomb and remember why were they going? Take spices, finish the preparation of the body for burial, although that had been started on Friday evening by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They wanted to provide their own fitting burial for Jesus and anoint his body with the spices and so forth in the proper Jewish custom. And so they got caught short on Friday evening with the beginning of the Sabbath. Then they bought more spices on Saturday evening. Remember we saw and darkness caught them then and were able to get to the tomb Saturday evening. And so they they go Sunday morning and that's their purpose for going. We saw that that as they are going the earthquake happens. The angel comes down, moves the stone sits on it and waits for the women to get there. The guards kill over and then evidently by the time the women get there, the guards are gone. And the women come to the tomb. They see that the stone is rolled away and evidently look inside. And so the next event that is described in the gospels that we saw last week is Mary immediately runs to tell Peter and John. She evidently sees they look inside. We're going to see it again tonight. Typically you did not just walk into a tomb. You would look in if it was open. But they saw enough to know that his body was not there. And so Mary immediately turns and takes off and is wanting to tell the disciples finds Peter and John tells them the other women while that's happening the other women go inside the tomb and see two angels. And the angels are the ones that describe to them what has happened. And you remember we saw last week give the first explanation as to what's happened. Remember divine revelation is important to understand the resurrection because there's tremendous confusion. The disciples do not understand it yet. They will not believe it on this first day. So God must reveal to them and confirm and these angels do that first of all with the women at the tomb. So that's where we kind of left off last time with the description of the angels and those women then going to report to the other disciples. So where we are now, John chapter 28 verses 3 through 10, Peter, John and Mary Magdalene run to the tomb. So Mary has found Peter and John and she is going to she tells them what's happened and Peter and John run to the tomb and Mary evidently follows. Let's pick it up in verse 3. So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. I gave it away. Didn't know who's the other disciple. Yeah, good. You're listening. Great. John, he does not refer to himself by name in his gospel. We've noted that before. So Peter and John started for the tomb verse for both were running, but the other disciple out ran Peter and reached the tomb first. Some have suggested from this that maybe John was younger than Peter and probably was all of the disciples were young men by the way because they are still living 30, 40 in John's case 60 years later. John doesn't write his books, the gospel of John the three epistles and revelation until in the 90s many say revelation was written around 95 AD. That's a good 60 or more years after the death of Christ. So these are young men. They run to the tomb. John gets there first and look at what he does in verse 5. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Now the inferences to the tombs were fairly low and so you had to bend over to go in and he did not go all the way in but he bends over enough to look in. Why do you think he did not go in? Nobody there. Nobody there. Okay. But why do you think he didn't go in to check it out further? Respect for Peter or just respect for the burial side of the dead or what you're thinking Audrey. Yeah. Okay. Could be. I mean the text doesn't really tell us so it could be any of those things and it may have been. If Peter were older it may have been out of deference to Peter or it may have just been he wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure what he would find. I mean it's hard to tell why but he hesitated. He hesitates at the door. He looks but he doesn't go in but Peter never hesitates about anything. He doesn't hesitate speak. He doesn't hesitate to act. He jumps out of the boat starts walking to Jesus. He opens his mouth and says things before he thinks. Peter never hesitates and so look at what Peter does in verse six. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus head. The cloth was still lying in its place separate from the linen. Now just try to get the scene here. Remember Jesus body would be wrapped in strips of cloth. The two kinds of spices that we saw that were used would be sprinkled all the way along those strips and the combination of the two one of which had kind of adhesive abilities to it would cause the strips of linen to adhere together and not just fall off the body. They would actually be stuck to the body. Then there was another cloth that would be put over the face sometimes as indicated here wrapped all the way around the head but it was a face cloth to cover the face and then there was a shroud typically that would be put over the entire body. That's how Jewish burial customs went. It's interesting that when they go and Peter goes in he sees the linen strips lying there on the slab and we'll take a look a little bit later at the tomb again. But he sees the cloth strips lying there but he also sees this piece that goes on Jesus face around his head lying there and some translations indicate that the word that we have here in the NIV which is wrapped around Jesus head. It was still lying in his place separate from the linen that the idea is that it was folded and neatly placed by itself. Now what does that tell you? What what they saw the arrangement of things into what does that suggest to you? Bingo. Yes, it was not stolen. Jesus body was not stolen. If the disciples had come in and stolen Jesus body you would expect everything to be in disarray or more likely they would have taken, they wouldn't have waited to unwind the strips and fold everything up and lay the other head piece by itself. They would have just grabbed the body and gone. So what is seen in the tomb by way of the strips of cloth and the orderly arrangement of things indicates certainly the body was not stolen. Okay. Anything? Certainly. You know that's an interesting question. Were they still in the shape of the body? Probably not. Although here's another kind of follow-up question to that to think about. What did they look like? How did Jesus get out of the strips of cloth when he came alive? Good answer. He's got. He can do anything for sure. I guess my thinking is based upon what Jesus body is capable of doing later, passing through walls, you know, in the upper room just appearing suddenly. Jesus probably just went right through the strips of cloths, not like he had to peel them off. In other words, you know, and take them off. He just went through them. His body had the capability to do that. The glorified body evidently does. Which raises a whole lot of interesting questions about the glorified body that we won't take time to deal with tonight. But first Corinthians 15 deals with some of those. It is. It is a spiritual body. It is a body. It's physical, but it is controlled by the Holy Spirit and it has functions that the normal physical body does not have. So that leads most to believe that our glorified body will look like our body now, but it has abilities and powers by way of physics that we don't have today. We can move through objects and so forth. And evidently that's what Jesus does at the resurrection. And remember Jesus did not need to have the stone move for him to get out. If he can suddenly appear in a room, he can also suddenly move through the tomb. He doesn't have that was for the purpose of people being able to get in and see. Okay. Look at what happens next. Where are we? Verse 8. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside. He saw and believed. John goes in after Peter and he sees the evidence there and believed what does it mean he believed what did he believe? Believe that he had risen. Okay. Believe. I'm sorry John. What? He believed what Jesus had told them he was going to do. Okay. I think that's a strong word which does indicate obviously some faith in what was said. Now notice the next verse is they still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Now what that probably refers to is the fact that they still hadn't put it all together. They still did not understand the old testament scriptures that Jesus had used when he taught them that he would be killed and raised again. They still didn't understand how all that fit together. John has at least some inkling of an idea that Jesus has risen from the dead and he believes what he's seeing but he doesn't have it all figured out yet. And he certainly doesn't know how to put it together with the Old Testament script. They haven't made that connection yet. Remember the angels when they did their explanation to the women. Remember what they said to them? I think it was Luke's gospel that gave this detail that they they reminded the women. Don't you remember what Jesus said to you when he was in Galilee? How he would die and be raised again the third day? So and they they got that again they still don't understand everything but they they are probably the first to really start putting it together. Because the angels remind them that what they see is just what Jesus had told them about and oh it's starting to click for them. It's starting to click a little bit for John but he hasn't gotten it real good yet. There's still a lot of confusion. They don't understand how it all fits together. So verse 10. Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. They went back home. I mean wherever they were staying in Jerusalem or Bethany or wherever it might be. We know we know they've been gathering in the or they will gather in the upper room where they were staying at this point a little hard to know for sure. Whether they were all together whether they were separate. Don't know. One interesting thing though that we'll see later is that Peter gets an individual appearance of Christ to him. So he must have been alone at some point on Sunday later in the day. But there's still a lot of confusion a lot of confusion on the part of the disciples. Now Jesus has not yet appeared to anybody. All of this has happened. Women going to the tomb. Mary running to tell the disciples finding Peter and John. Peter and John running to the tomb and the other women going in while all that's happening the other women going in seeing the angels and getting an explanation. They go back to report to the disciples by that time Peter and John have made it. They see now they go home. I mean there's a lot of activity and confusion because Jesus hasn't appeared to anybody yet. Now we're going to see we're going to start seeing that next. In fact there will be five appearances of Jesus on Sunday on that day. There are 10 and all five of them happen on that first day. Okay so it's going to be a tremendously busy day of activity and it's you know it's sometimes you talk about you never know what a day is going to hold when it gets started. Wow what could be said of this day when the disciples began this day they're in despair and by the end of this day they will be thoroughly confused but beginning to have some hope and some understanding of what's happened. It's an incredible day. I'm hoping that these two are in return for their own role. I have never seen this for over a few years. Yeah. Okay. It's been very busy since I guess we have that very busy. Well not quite yet. I think when it says they return to their own home it has to refer to wherever they were staying in Jerusalem. They don't go back to Galilee yet. Yeah because Sunday evening we'll find them in the upper room again where they had the last supper in the and so forth. So they're still in Jerusalem evidently and that's a little confusing because they said they went to their own homes some translation say it that way. But probably just where they were staying in Jerusalem that week. Yeah. Right. Okay. All right. Now here's where the fun part starts. The resurrection day appearances. The first appearance is given in John's Gospel and will just follow right along being in verse 11. Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and she goes to tell the disciples. Verse 11. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying evidently. She went to tell Peter and John about the empty tomb and they get their first evidently she is behind them. They run. She probably did not. Given the kind of garment we know they wore men would tuck their long flowing garments into their belt. That's called girding up your loins. It's the old old King James expression for it. They would tuck it into their belt. They could run more easily. She probably got theirs quickly as she she could but was behind them. So by the time they've gone in to see things and you know left. She's arriving and she's there and verse 11 says. She's standing outside the tomb crying. Now the word for crying is a word for wailing loud wailing. It's a it's a funeral dirge kind of wailing that would be common in the Middle East still is today. So this is this is not just standing there silently weeping. She's wailing. She's she's almost frantic. She's beside herself. As she wept verse 11 says she bent over to look into the tomb. Now let's stop right there. We're going to look at a couple of pictures that kind of give you a feel for that. I hope you can see this. Okay. This is this is an artist's representation of Mary looking inside. This is the entrance to the tomb. Obviously she's looking inside. This is the what we explained earlier is the antichamber. You walk into a tomb and that they'd be kind of a hallway and then there would be cut out sections to each side right in the left. And you can see that she's looking this direction. Here's the slab evidently one of the slabs. But she's looking in the direction where his body would be in the next picture kind of gives you an idea from the inside what the tomb would have looked like. Again you step inside and there's this antichamber or larger chamber hallway type thing here. And then this cut out section gives you the idea of what would be to the side. The burial sites the actual slabs where bodies would be laid would be on the side. And so you can if you kind of have that in mind you can see that Peter and John well first of all the women would look inside and be able to see that there was no way to be laid out. And they go in and see the angels and then Peter and John go in and now Mary is looking inside the tomb. And this is kind of what they're seeing. They're going just inside and looking off to one side and seeing that there is nobody there and that linen and so forth is in its place. Okay, verse 12. What did she see? She saw two angels in white seated where Jesus body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. Again, I remember it's interesting that some of the gospel say there were two angels, some say one mark basically focuses on the one that spoke. But there were two angels there. John adds this little detail here that they were both seated and one was at the head and one at the foot of the slab where Jesus had laying. It's interesting that there's no mention of Peter and John seeing the two angels, right? So, the two angels are the angels appearing and then not appearing and just appearing as they're needed to explain things. Maybe that was it. I don't know. But at any rate, she sees the two angels, verse 13, they asked her woman, why are you crying? That's an interesting question, isn't it? Why are you crying? Obviously, they know why she's crying, but they want to response from her. They want to pull out of her what she's thinking in verse 13. She says, they have taken my Lord away. She said, and I don't know where they have put him. She is uncertain about what has happened to Jesus and that's distressing to her because of the Jewish importance of a proper burial. Jews put a lot of importance on the proper burial. That's why the care for the spices and preparation of the body. And they have gone to all of that trouble and now his body's gone. And they don't know where it is. And that's revolting to them. It's horrifying to them. So, she is mortified at what she's seeing. Okay, verse 14, at this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. Okay, pictured again, she's in the tomb. She's looking off to the side. She sees the two angels. They ask her the question. She answers. And then she turns around. So, evidently, she's turning to look back outside the tomb, maybe even now stepping outside the tomb. And she sees Jesus standing there. Wonder why she turned around. Did she hear movement behind her? Did the angels kind of motion? You know, look behind you. Whatever reason she turned around and she sees Jesus, but she does not realize that it was Jesus. Why? Why do you think she didn't realize it? Okay, sure. She wasn't expecting it to be him. The last time she saw his body was when it was taken off the cross. And it was a gruesome sight. And so, she would not have expected to see him looking like that, but wouldn't have expected to see him alive anyway. Yes. And heavenly glory or aura about him possibly, possibly, we're not real sure about that might have been. Pardon me? Maybe I've been blocking the light. Okay. All right. Good be. Good be. Yeah. Okay. Maybe it was because she was crying so much that her vision was clouded. John? I've looked at this in a different spot and it's almost like he must have been reconfigured to look like somebody who's a different person. It was not because nobody recognized, either from what he looked like before he was crucified. And then when they crucified him, he was a mess. Yeah. So, there's nobody says anything in there about seeing him seeing his torn up skin or anything like that, but it's that they don't realize or recognize him. Okay. So, they must have in some, they don't know if you're like when they're talking about Thomas. Yeah. Thomas wants to see you in the next one. Okay. So, it's an interesting question. And this is not just a trivial matter because it touches on our resurrection body, too. Whatever Jesus glorified body or resurrection bodies like ours will be like, right? Because, Philippians 321, other passages talk about will be changing the same kind of body will be like him. So, it's not a trivial matter. It's important to understand. John raises a good point about there are several other instances where it is recorded that he was not recognized. At least three may be four other times in the resurrection appearances. First of all, on the, the evening that he appears to the 11 in the upper room, it says he appeared and some doubted. Now, that's a little question. It was one that they didn't recognizing or they just couldn't believe it was him because they didn't expect him to be alive. That's a little different, but he appeared to the two disciples on the road to a Mayas. The Bible says there they were kept from recognizing him. Now, that was obviously something God did to keep them from recognizing him so that the whole conversation could take place and he could be revealed to them in a way that would then open their eyes because he would explain to them from the scriptures everything that had to happen. So, that there was a reason for that and God kind of shielded their eyes. Is that what was happening to Mary? Possibly, maybe. But there are at least two other occasions in John 21 when the seven disciples have gone back to fishing and Jesus appears on the shore and it says they did not recognize him. They did not recognizing. It was, and that may be part of it, I personally believe that Jesus looked like himself. I think Jesus will say some things in the upper room that, come on, it's me. It is me. And the reason he said that was not because he looks so different, but because they were, they didn't expect to see him alive. And he basically says, come here, touch my hands, your hand on my side, touch me, feel me, it's me. The reason he said it was because they thought they were seeing a ghost. They didn't think it was a real person. I think they would have recognized the person as Jesus because he will be recognizable later on to them. So I think there are probably a number of factors maybe as to why she doesn't recognize him. Maybe it was that divine veil over the eyes like the two disciples in the road to Emmaus. I'm not sure about that. Maybe it was the factor eyes were cloudy from crying. Maybe it was because he was standing in the doorway and the light was blowing. It could be a number of things. And it could simply be because that's the last person she expected to see alive. They don't understand that yet. And that's something that's hard for us to grasp because we're so far removed from it and we know the whole story. We know what the scriptures say that we're kind of like duh. He's alive. Well, they didn't expect that. They didn't expect that at all. Yes, Lynn? The one thing I did not see that. Why would you want to see the Jesus Christ? Why would you want to see the Jesus Christ? Why would you want to see the Jesus Christ? I would like to ask, do you have a point? What is that saying? You know, that's a great and interesting question. Why wasn't she kind of alarmed the angels? Angels sometimes do appear in the dazzling form. They did on the morning of the resurrection to the guards and to the women who first arrived. But angels also, most of the time they appear in human form, they appear very normal. And you would not know that they're any different from anyone else in the Old Testament. That's particularly true. Does one of the scriptures say that they should do the barrenness? We're going to get there in about one more two more verses. She will assume that of Jesus. It could be that the angels appeared in the glory, in the brightness, to frighten the guards, but not the women, at least in this case. Yeah. Yeah, you kind of wondered, did she raise any questions about that? I don't know. The text doesn't tell us. Okay, let's move on. She turned around. She's Jesus does not realize it's him. And then verse 15, he asked her, woman, why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for? Now think of that question for a moment. Jesus asking that question, who are you looking for? He knows obviously she's looking for him. But it's such a gentle, tender, patient question. He's not going to shock her with the truth necessarily. He's going to kind of gradually lead her to the truth. And I just find something very gracious and tender about that. And the fact that he questions her first, it's a touching question. Now here's where it says, middle of the verse, thinking he was the gardener. She said, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've put him and I will get him. Again, a very, very tender exchange. She thinks it's the gardener, probably because who else would be there that early in the morning? I mean, the women have come because they were coming to anoint his body. And that's the purpose for being there. Who else would be just there except maybe the gardener, maybe the caretaker. And so she assumes that maybe he's the gardener and asks for help in locating his body and says, I will get him. I will get him. That's very touching. Then Jesus said to her in verse 16, Mary, she turned toward him and cried out in a remake, Reboni, which means teacher. When he spoke her name, she recognized him. His voice was the same. Again, why she did not recognize him? We've suggested a number of possibilities. Could be a combination of all those things, but she recognized the voice. Maybe that's when Jesus decided to make himself known. And so when he spoke her name, I mean, he had spoken to her before in verse 15, but when he spoke her name, she recognized the voice and turns right and calls out teacher. Now, look at what happens in verse 17. Jesus said, do not hold on to me where I have not yet ascended to the Father. That phrase, that statement has been, I believe, misinterpreted quite often. I think because of the King James translation, the King James says, do not touch me because I've not yet ascended to my Father. And many have assumed that what Jesus was saying is you can't touch me yet because I still have to go present my blood as the offering in the holy place in the heavenly temple. And I haven't done that yet. And so things are not quite completed yet. You can't touch me yet. But I don't believe that's what Jesus was talking about. The word touch, the Greek word literally is to grasp or to clasp hold up. And that's why most of the modern translations, more modern translations have given that nuance of the word. For instance, the NIV that I'm using is do not hold on to me. So what does that indicate? It probably indicates that when she recognized who he was, she falls at his feet and grabs him, if you will, to hold on to him. She's afraid that he will leave quickly. He has just shown up and she's still confused about why he's out of the tomb and she wants to hold him there, keeping there. And he says, no need to do that. I've not yet ascended to the Father. What I believe he was saying was, you're going to get other opportunities to see me. Don't worry. You don't need to hang on to me like I'm going to escape somehow. And you'll never see me again. I haven't ascended yet. The ascension didn't happen until 40 days later. Jesus did not go into heaven to present his blood literally in a literal temple in heaven. There is no literal temple in heaven. The book of Hebrews is saying all that is done. The literal stuff is done. Heaven itself is the real temple. The presence of God does not need any furniture in heaven. He is the temple. In fact, Revelation 21 says, in the eternal state, there is no temple. It makes it clear. And I don't think there is now either. I don't think there was when Jesus died either. I think the ascension, Jesus did not ascend until 40 days later. So all he's telling Mary basically is, no need to try to keep me here. No need to try to hold me down to earth. Thinking I'm going to suddenly disappear. I'm going to be around a while longer. I've not yet ascended to my Father. But I've got something for you to do. He says, go instead of my brothers. First time he's called them brothers. He's called them friends in the upper room. Now he calls them brothers. Go instead of my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. So basically what he's saying, I haven't ascended yet, but I am going to. And they need to know that that's coming. He's already, the angels have already told the women to go tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee. He hadn't ascended yet, but I am going to. We need to get together. We need to meet. This is the communication here. So to close out this section, Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news. I have seen the Lord and it's a very joyful announcement. She is the first to see him and she announces it with great joy and excitement. And she told them that he had said these things to her. But if you will, look at Mark's account in Mark 16, Mark gives their response. Mark 16, verse 9. When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. That's what we've just read about in John. Out of whom he had driven seven demons, she went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping when they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Shame on them is right. But I think I could probably add the same thing would probably be said of us in that moment. None of us probably would have believed it either. Again, we have to try to put ourselves back in their sandals. We have to try to put ourselves in their place. Everything that's happened in the last three days has been terribly confusing to them. Even in the garden, remember, they were frantic and they ended up getting so scared they all fled. And John makes his way back for the trials. Peter kind of wonders in and then denies the Lord and goes out. He's terribly messed up. He's weeping. He feels he's completely failed his Lord. And so there's a lot going on in their minds. And now in the midst of all this despair and not knowing what to do next and what's happened and all that. Now they're getting these news that the tomb is empty and now Mary is coming in saying she saw him. Come on. This is just too much information. I think they just didn't get it because Jesus will tell the two on the road to Emmaes, Emmaes, oh you who are slow of heart. You should have understood this. You should have gotten it. And they should have. And I don't think it was designed to be that way. I think they should have understood it, but it's going to take a lot of appearances and teaching and explaining and all for them to start to get it, but they will they'll get it. Yeah, very very much the same. I don't think we grasp the second coming. Maybe any better than they did the resurrection. Really. I mean, we believe it. And maybe a little different. I don't think they really understood when Jesus warned them about what was happening. I don't think it ever really lodged and they got it. Well, aren't there four mentioned in Mark six? I think there are four mentioned. I think he was talking about the disciples here, but the brothers will believe. I'm getting a little ahead of myself now. First Corinthians 15, it says he will appear to James one of his brothers. And so and by the time they're gathered in the upper room after the ascension, his brothers are there with them. So their believers by then. So somewhere in this 40 days, they got it too. They understood who he was and they accepted him as. Yeah, it may have. It may have included them, although. You know, all the message that have been given so far directed to the disciples, the angels are saying go tell the disciples and so forth. So you would you would guess it would be that. Yeah, he says my father, your father, my God, your God, they his brothers are not yet believers. At least on day one, we don't know when that happened. Okay, our time is up. The kids will be done. And we've we've still got a number of other appearances that happen on that day. It is an exciting day. It is a day that. Theologically is is the foundation of our faith as we saw when we introduced the resurrection. And so I think it's exciting to look at the details and just to be able to kind of soak it all in. And just get a real feel for what it would have been like to be there and to begin to slowly grasp what's taking place. I think for for us 2000 years removed having the entirety of the New Testament, all of Paul's explanations about the resurrection. It's too easy for us to just take it for granted. I think it's good for us to go back and put ourselves in their place and rediscover it again like they had to. And you know, I think part of the reason for their passion about the resurrection and the way they preached it so passionately we're willing to die for Christ is because of them experiencing it firsthand. And I think maybe if we go back and try to experience it firsthand like they did, maybe it will fill us with more passion for what it really means instead of just saying, oh yeah, resurrection. I got that in my theology. I have to check that off. I know that. But if we can go back and experience it like they did, maybe we'll have a little more of the same heart passion for the risen Christ and what that means. And maybe we would have the kind of boldness to be willing to die for him too. Good timing, by the way, because we're going to need some backbone in the days they had in our country. We're going to need some backbone to stand for Christ. Okay. That's another sermon for another time. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the opportunity to look at your word and to be able to look at it not just in a surface way, but to be able to really dig into some of the depth of it and riches of it to take the time to do that. Thank you, Father, for the amazing day that makes certain ourselves. Our salvation that declares with great power that Jesus is who he really was, really who he said he was and he is the Savior. And you put your stamp of approval on his death for our salvation. Thank you for all the resurrection means to us. Lord, we pray that as we live in the gospels in these sessions that we will we will get a feel like the disciples did for what it was really like to discover it for the first time to slowly but deeply begin to really understand what was happening. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.