The Resurrection of Jesus (3)

That is a wonderful truth, isn't it? Because Christ lives, we live, we are alive in Him. Of course, the epistles, particularly Paul's epistles, develop that theology of the resurrection, what it means to us spiritually, what it means to us in our position in Christ, all of that's developed mainly in the epistles, and what we have in the gospels is pretty much the actual historical record of the resurrection. Of course, that's what we're looking at as we get close to the end of our study of the life of Christ. We're looking at the resurrection of Christ tonight, it'll be our third study on the actual resurrection. We're dealing with the appearances of Christ following the resurrection now. We're still on the Sunday of the resurrection, the first day where we're looking at Christ's appearances. There are five of them on that Sunday. We know that the gospels talk about 10 appearances of Christ after his resurrection in the 40 days before he went back to heaven. But five of those happen on the first day, and so we're kind of spending a lot of time on the one day, but that's the reason why there's a lot of information, a lot of material in the gospels about that one day. Let me just remind you of what we have seen thus far. We've looked at the early confusion of his followers on that Sunday, and that's really how things began with a lot of confusion and a lot of mixed feelings and even mixed messages about what's happening on that day. The women go to the tomb early. They find it empty. Mary Magdalene immediately leaves and runs to tell the disciples, finds John and Peter and tells them the other women stay at the tomb and enter into it. That's when they see the two angels and get the explanation as to what's happened from the angels. And then they go to report to the disciples. So there's a lot going on at the same time here. Evidently at the time they're going to report to the disciples. Peter and John are running back because they've heard from Mary Magdalene. They run to the tomb and Peter and John actually look inside, see that it's empty. And then Mary Magdalene is left there at the tomb as the two disciples leave. We ended last week with the first of the resurrection day appearances and the first appearances to Mary Magdalene in John chapter 20. Now we're going to be in Matthew 28 tonight. But we finished last week with John chapter 20 and the appearance to Mary Magdalene. Remember she thought he was the gardener at first. She did not recognize him at first. And then when he spoke her name, she did recognize who it was. And she clasped his feet trying to hold onto him, thinking that she's very confused. She still doesn't understand what all's happened. He suddenly has appeared. She's been thinking they've taken him. We don't know where he is. She doesn't want him to leave again. And maybe even thinking that he's headed back to heaven immediately. And so he says, don't clasp onto me. Don't try to detain me. I'm not not ascended yet. You'll see me some more. I haven't gone back to heaven yet. And that was kind of how that ended. She runs to tell the disciples her story. Now let's pick up there. In Matthew 28, verses 9 and 10, Jesus appears to the other women. These are the other women that were at the tomb with Mary earlier. And now they are on their way to tell the disciples. And Jesus appears to them. Matthew 28, verse 8, let's start there. So the women hurried away from the tomb. These are the women that had gone into the tomb, had heard the angel. And now they're going to go back and tell the disciples. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid, yet filled with joy and ran to tell his disciples. Now there's some interesting things going on here that are a little difficult to put together. Remember we talked about the fact that as we've harmonized the gospels and working our way through the life of Christ and put the various records together to get the full picture, it's probably the most difficult to do when it comes to the resurrection scenes. Here's an example. Mark's gospel tells us that the women left the tomb were afraid and did not tell anyone. And Matthew and Luke both say they ran to tell the disciples. And so what's happening there? How do you put all that together? Well, when you think about the fact that there's evidently some time here, because by the time they get back to tell the disciples, Peter and John are already back, they've already been to the tomb. There's a little bit of time here. I think probably what happened is they were afraid and did not know what to do and did not want to tell anyone and then realized they could not keep it to themselves. And maybe after a bit of a lapse of time, they decide to go tell the other disciples. And so what we pick up with there is in verse 9. Suddenly, Jesus met them. He evidently appears suddenly to the women and then notice he greets them, greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. He had a response Mary Magdalene had. They recognize him. Obviously, recognize who he is. They clasped his feet and bowed himself at his feet, which is the posture of worship. One of the new testament words for worship, one of the Greek words literally means to kiss toward or to bow the knee. It was typical in an oriental custom where if a king came through, you would fall to your knee and either blow a kiss or if you had the opportunity, literally kiss the foot. And that would be an act of worship of that king and an act of submission to the king. That's the posture they're taking. They recognize who he is. They throw themselves at his feet and clasped his feet and worship him. First in, then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee where they will see me. Again, I think the brothers here is referring to the disciples because Jesus, several times, gives this communication for the disciples to meet him in Galilee and eventually they will. And further on in Matthew 28, they will meet him in Galilee. So this is a very brief appearance. It does not appear to last very long. Jesus assures them, gives them this job to tell the disciples and then he's gone. Does not stay very long at all. Just a brief mention of an appearance there then. Those comments here? You see, you see Mark? There's not. They did not know that he held me. What does it say? In Mark 16 verse 8, it says after they had gone into the tomb, what the angel said, trembling and bewildered, the women went out, fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. So where it seems to be a contradiction, again, you harmonize the gospels. You have to put those two together. Evidently, their initial reaction was they were so confused and so fearful. They weren't going to tell anyone. And then what Matthew kicks in and says, they were afraid, but they were also filled with joy. Evidently, that latter emotion caught up with them and prompted them maybe after a brief period of time to run, share their joy and talk to the disciples. Both are true. There's no contradiction. Both are true, but evidently, you have to give some space for a lapse of time there. And with all that's going on, with Mary Magdalene having come back to the tomb with Peter and John, having seen and talked to the Lord for a few moments, you can see there must have been a little bit of time in there for these ladies to finally decide they were going to go tell the disciples. That's the only way I can think of it fitting together. Okay? Anything else there? All right. The next thing that happens then is recorded in Matthew's gospel as we follow in verse 11, while the women were on their way, okay? The women just spoken up that Jesus has appeared to, while they are on their way to communicate to the disciples what he's told them to communicate, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. Now let's pause here just a moment. I want us to get a feel for what's really going on here. Again, the gospels are covering things that are happening at the same time. There's a lot going on with Peter and John, Mary Magdalene, the other women that are at the tomb, and while all of that's going on, there's stuff going on with the guards too. Evidently, they have come out of whatever terror-induced paralysis or temporary sleep that they were in, that the Lord put them under, and they've come out of that, and they've gone into the city and reported the chief priest. Notice it says some of the guards. Does that give you the impression not all of them went? Kind of does, doesn't it? So what do you think is going on there? Some of them are scared, some of them wonderfully went AWOL because they're in a heap of trouble now. If a Roman guard either went to sleep on duty or whatever he was guarding came up missing, then it was a capital crime. They could lose their life over it. So there are some of the guards that maybe are still trying to figure out what do we do, but at least some of them go to report what's happened. Now, who does it say they went to to report this? Does that strike you as strange? Who do Roman guards answer to? The answer is Caesar. The way you say it, I think they were very tough. It was really a tough thing. They recognized the point of the policy in both the Jewish way, it was like they thought what was going on. Okay. Okay. That may be what was going on. Typically, you would think the Roman soldiers would report back to Roman authorities. And in that sense, Caesar's authority, which in this case would be pilot, pilot is the one that sent the guard. The governor is the one that sent the guard. So you would think they would report back either to pilot or someone who was between them and pilot that would be responsible. You would think of it as a Roman. But I think Sam, you're onto something. I think they realize it's the chief priest that wanted this. They're the ones that appealed the pilot, remember on Saturday, for the guard. And so if we're going to get in trouble, we're going to pull them down with us. We're going to get them involved as well. I think there may have been some of that kind of thing going on. They knew that the chief priests wanted this really bad. And so if they're going to be in trouble, they're going to appeal to the chief priest to help them get through this scrape. I think they probably recognize it. People look a little weak. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's, that's an interesting thought, Jean, that the Roman soldiers may have believed that Jesus actually did rise from the grave. There's no mention that they saw him. They saw Jesus. There's no mention of that. But we don't know for sure that they didn't. We know they saw the angel, right? And that scared him pretty good. So they knew something was going on. Yeah, it scared me. Yeah. I think it would all have us. So they, they go to the chief priests. But what really interests me about this story and what I would love to know more about is what they reported in verse 11. They reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. Now what does that mean? They told the chief priests. Told them the truth, didn't they? Which was? What? Okay, they'd seen an angel. Christ was not there. Probably told them about the earthquake, the shaking, the stone being rolled away. What the angel looked like. They could have summarized the whole four camps. Yeah. I mean, they could have told everything we've read in the gospels that happened prior to the people coming to the tomb. They told the truth. They told what they had experienced. They told what they saw, what they heard, how they felt. They told the truth. You can't escape the fact that these men are not the originators of the deception that will eventually be told. These men were there. They know what happened and they told it exactly like it happened. They reported what had happened. And it's going to take a lot of convincing to get them to change their story. And that's exactly what happens. Verse 12. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan. Now, think about this. Chief priests are the religious leaders in the sense that they are the temple officiaries, if you will. Remember who the elders are? Who are the elders? We've been so long. We're almost so far removed from it. But just two days ago, they're the ones that voted to put Jesus to death on Friday morning. They're the Sanhedrin. They're the political kind of religious leaders in Israel. That's the 70. And so they get together and the chief priests devised this plan. I wonder, wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall in that room? And figuring out how they're dealing with this news from the guards. I imagine they were pretty frantic. They're trying to figure out how do we need what kind of story do we need to concott to? How are we going to spend this to where we can come out okay? And they're frantic. The tables have been turned. The disciples were in despair on Saturday. And the chief priests and the Sanhedrin thought we're done with this guy. We finally got him killed. And they were jubilant. And all of a sudden, within 24 hours, everything is turned. And now the disciples are beginning to experience a little by little, but they're beginning to see glimmers of hope and joy. At least the women are filled with joy. And I can just imagine these guys are frantically in a smoke-filled back room. I don't know about the smoke-filled part, but in a back room somewhere. They're trying to figure out what do we do now? What do we do now? So when they had devised this plan, notice it says they gave the soldiers a large sum of money. As a part of their plan, they know they have to bribe the soldiers. And to get them to tell the story, they want them to tell, it's going to take a lot of money. A lot of money. Because these guys, no matter what they tell, they're in trouble. They're in trouble. And so it's going to take a lot of money for them to go along with this plan that the chief priests and the elders devise. And here's the reason why verse 13, telling them, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, okay, here's the story, you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. Whoa, that is a lot to tell. First of all, we've got to admit that we were asleep on the job. Secondly, we've got to admit that we allowed Jesus the disciples to come and steal the body while we were asleep. Now, that story could get them into a lot of trouble. But are there some things that don't add up about that story? Well, they're asleep. Exactly. That's one of the things. If they were asleep, how do they know that the disciples came and stole the body? Anything else strike you as strange about this story? Yeah, I mean, can you imagine how many disciples would take to roll the stone away and are the guards who are right there in front of the stone? Are they going to sleep through that? Are you serious? Yeah, the original stealth fighters. They must have been Navy Seals or something to the disciples. That's not going to happen. And then what about the grave clothes? If they had stolen the body, do you think the disciples, after having surprised the Roman guards, moved the stone or all the racket that would cause? If the guards have slept through that, do you think the disciples are going to take the time to unwrap the body before they take the body? Of course not. No one would be foolish enough to do that. If you're going to steal the body and you're trying to do it undercover and stealthily so that the Roman soldiers don't catch them, and if it were possible to get inside, you wouldn't take the time to unwrap the body. You'd grab the body and go, you don't unwrap it somewhere else. So the whole story is full of holes. It doesn't match up. But put yourself in the soldier's boots for a little bit. Okay, they're in trouble no matter which way the story goes. The body is gone and they're responsible for that. So no matter what story is told, they're in trouble. Who's going to believe the angel story? Obviously the chief priests, well, it appears they didn't because they go into spin mode real quick to try to figure out how to get through this. Who's going to believe that story? I mean, they will be held responsible. You try to concoct the story about an angel coming. Yeah, Pilots are going to really like that. It's going to really go over well with him. So they're in trouble either way. The only thing that causes them to go along with it is two things. The only thing I should say. Number one is the huge amount of money and the payoff, the bribe. And the second thing is the assurance that the chief priests will cover them if they get in trouble. Notice what happens next. Verse 14, the chief priests and elders are still speaking here. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. Okay, so they take the money and run and run with the lie. Amazing. They know it's not true. They know it. They've already told the truth. They've told it what happened. But because of either way it goes are going to be in trouble and this way they're going to get a pile of money. Yeah, we'll tell that. We'll tell that story. Oh no, we would never do anything like that. Mark Twain used to say that a lie can go around the world while the truth is still lacing up its boots. And that's exactly what happens here. This lie takes hold. Notice the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. People believed it. You mean people literally believed that Roman soldiers would sleep through distraught, the disciples coming and moving the stone and stealing a body? You mean to tell me people believe that? Well, they evidently did. The lie can go all the way around the world before the truth can even lace up its boots. Oh yeah. People still believe that today denying the resurrection and there are so many people like Josh McDowell, Eastrow Bull and so many others that have demonstrated the holes in the denial of the resurrection and the implausibility of any other explanation. But still people believe the lie. Wonder why? It's a nature. And there's a little something else maybe going on there too, right Steve? I think it goes back and I was just trying to figure out what the truth is. Because if you would have used, I mean, these guards seem to be able to fit into the stage of the failed from their job. They seem to unfold that they wouldn't get any money to come down and roll down the stage. It's not something they would have made up to then use it. I mean, they can think of not just taking that as a job. Yeah. And there is the willful of the truth. And there is the willful rejection of Christ. I think there is also satanic deception, satanic blindness of heart. It is much the same thing as what Paul says about the gospel in 2 Corinthians 4. Our gospel is hidden from them that do not know Christ because they're spiritually blinded. The enemy has blinded people's eyes to where they cannot see the glorious light of the gospel through Christ. And so there is a spiritual blindness that is not logical. It goes against all reason and against all the evidence and yet it is there. Andrew. Could be. It could be that by now, after all they've seen, and they saw a lot related to the crucifixion, all the things that happened at the end that we talked about, the earthquake, and the tearing of the veil on the temple and so forth. It could be that by now they're beginning to think, well, we're doing something over our heads here. Maybe there's some truth to this. And that could be what it is. They didn't want the truth to get back to pile it. Yeah. Could be. Who knows. We don't know for sure. Oh yes. They were. Yeah. Sure. To protect the system. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. That's true. A lot of that going on. No doubt. Sheila. Why didn't they. Sorry. You know, I think they, I think they've probably realized the guards were intent on telling the truth. And so the only way they could get them to tell something else was with a huge bribe and they had to tell them what to say. Or kill them. Sorry. You mean the chief priests. Well, the Sanhedrin doesn't have the power to put anybody to death. But one thing that would have to be done by the Romans and particularly with their own soldiers. The Jews would have no authority to put a Roman soldier to death. That would be seen as the worst kind of insurrection. And then pilot would really stamp the whole system out. So that I don't, I don't think that would have crossed their minds. But they do want to shut them up. And so the next best thing is let's pay them off. I think that's probably about the only recourse they had. Sammy. Yeah. Yeah. It probably did. And, and I think you're right about pilot. You get the impression when you look closely at the trial. He was doing his best to get out of having Jesus executed. He did not want any part of that. And I think when you're like you say when he washed his hands up it, he was done with it. Didn't want to hear anymore about it. I think you're right there. The reasons for that for pilot. Is that what you're saying? Do you think that he felt like he was the only one who did it? Yeah. I think, I think first of all, he did not see any guilt from just a strict legal objective perspective. He didn't see any guilt worthy of capital punishment. But the second thing was that dream that his wife told him about not to have anything to do with this man because he's innocent. I think that really impacted him. He had seen other insurrectionists and there were other people who proclaimed themselves to be Messiah's in the first century. And Josephus tells us there were a number even during the time that Christ was alive. That claim to be a Jewish Messiah. Some somewhat, not like Jesus did, no. But there were some who had followers. In fact, one of the reasons why the Romans finally invaded Israel and completely destroyed the temple in 70 AD and squashed was because of that very thing. There was a Jewish rebellion led by a proclaiming Messiah. And so they finally said, okay, we've had enough of that. We're just going to squash him. So pilot probably was familiar with other people who attracted crowds, insurrectionists and self-proclaimed political deliverers and that kind of thing. It's a fascinating part of the story really, what's happening with the guards. All right, there's another appearance that takes place next. Jesus appears to Peter. Now, let's look, it's just briefly mentioned. It's just mentioned in passing in two passages, only one in the Gospels. And it's kind of an off-hand dimension in Luke 24. Luke 2434. Now, this is after Jesus has made an appearance to two disciples on the road to a Mason. We'll get to that in a moment, I think. But after that happens, and they're reporting, those two disciples are reporting back to the 11 about their experience, notice what they say in Luke 24, verse 34, we'll go back and pick up the story and Luke in a minute. But they say, verse 33, there they found the 11, those with them assembled together and saying, it is true, the Lord has arisen and has appeared to Simon. That's Peter. They're saying it's already happened. He's appeared to Simon, he's appeared to Peter, and Jesus appears to them, as we'll see in a moment, on Sunday, probably Sunday afternoon. So somewhere in there, somewhere on Sunday, Jesus also appeared to Peter. And 1 Corinthians 155 is the other passage that describes that, again, just kind of in passing. Talking about the different appearances, verse 4, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to seep us, that's another name for Peter. And then to the 12, now the 12 is just kind of the official name for the disciples. We know there's only 11 of them in the upper room, but that was kind of an official name, the 12, for the disciples. So before he met with them that evening, Sunday evening, he has met with Peter. We don't know anything about that meeting other than those two kind of off-handed references to the fact that he had met with Peter. He had to. I was just going to ask, why would Jesus single out Peter for a, what evidently was a private meeting on Sunday, the day of the resurrection? Why would he do that? He was devastated, wouldn't he? After his denial, Bible says he went out and went bitterly. Bitterly. I think his heart was broken over what he had, realizing what he had done. So here's a man who is crushed in spirit. And yes, he's evidently still with the 11, he runs to the tomb on Sunday morning, but then he goes back to where every staying. He still can't grasp what's happened. And no doubt still struggling with all that's happened in the last two, three days and his role in it. I think that's a major reason. Anything else you can think of, why Jesus would single out Peter for an appearance? Okay. I think he's on to something there. He was going to be the instrument that God would use to really be the leader of the early church and to get it started in the book of Acts chapter 2. Peter will be the point man for the day of Pentecost and the early church. And even the guy who first takes the gospel to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10, he is a leader. And he's always shown leadership potential. He's a natural born leader, but he now needs spirit and ablement to refine that leadership to enable him to overcome his weaknesses and direct that leadership in the right way. And I think Jesus met with him for that reason too. Because here's a man who will be the leader of the early church. And he's at a very precarious point right now. Do you remember what Jesus told Peter in the upper room the night he betrayed the Lord? Do you remember what Jesus told him Luke 22? Jesus told him Satan has desired to have you so that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. Luke 22 verse 31 32. Okay, Jesus knew that Peter was going to go through a very precarious time that could mean he would be destroyed spiritually. Satan has desired to have you. Satan knows your potential. He's wanting to use what's going to happen this night to shake you to your core. And I'm praying for you that your faith doesn't fail. Now I think I think maybe that's a big part of the reason why Jesus met with him to salvage a leader. Someone that God will use to kick off the church and get it going and in the book of Acts. So yes, it is. It is a great picture of eternal salvation. Yeah, that Jesus hasn't given up on him just because he denied him. Yeah, he's still one of his. Carolyn? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, I think there was a great deal of compassion there too. I don't think Jesus met with him to be right him. I think it was a very compassionate, merciful, tender, encouraging kind of meeting. And I, you know, I think you're right on as far as how we should see the Savior. The Lord to use Old Testament passage Psalm 103. He remembers it where but dust. He knows our frame. He knows what we're made of. And he knows our weaknesses. And he knew that Peter was impetuous. And at one moment, he would say, Lord, I'll never deny you. I'll go to I'll die for you. And then the next moment he's betraying him. Jesus knew that was Peter's makeup. And he knew how that would devastate him. And I think he, I think you're right. I think he did reach out to him with compassion and grace and restore him. You know, it's one of the things, you know, we always talk about questions. We want to ask when we get to heaven. And I know probably when we get to heaven, we won't think about these kind of questions. We'll just focus on the Lord. But if we do get to ask questions about Bible things, I would love to know what happened in that meeting. I would love to sit down with Peter and say, Peter, tell me about that meeting on the day of the resurrection. Just tell me what happened. Again, I'm not sure we're going to be interested in all those details. But we, we will have the opportunity to continue learning and expanding our knowledge throughout eternity. You know, I loved you. Yeah. That's a good point, Tommy. I don't think Jesus would have dealt with Peter any different than he does with us when we turn our backs on him. So it's just a very slight mention in the Bible, but it's a meeting that is packed with meaning and pathos. It's just an incredible scene. No doubt. But we don't get, we just get the curtain pulled back just a glimpse and then it's gone. I mean, we don't really know what happened. But you can imagine. Okay, we got five minutes. Let's go to Luke 24. And you may still be there. Luke 24 and we're going to start with Jesus appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And I really believe this is one of the most touching, one of the most tender and one of the most gripping encounters for a number of people. For a number of different reasons in the post resurrection appearances. And a lot of it is the way Jesus deals with these two and who they are. Okay. So, but first of all, let's look at a map and let's, let's see if we can kind of figure out what's going on here. Here's Jerusalem. This is where the crucifixion, the resurrection is taking place. See up here, Emmaus, northwest of Jerusalem about seven miles. Now, the reason why the question mark is there is no one knows for sure where Emmaus was. It's not mentioned anywhere else in scripture. And so no one knows real for really for sure where it is, but most believe it was seven miles northwest. I mean, the scriptures will tell us it's seven miles outside of Jerusalem, but which direction we don't know for sure. There's probably somewhere up here. And these two disciples are on their way back to their home evidently in Emmaus and Jesus meets with them. Now, we know one of their names, but then in verse 18, let's pick this up before we get into the story of verse 13. One of them named Cleopas. So, we know one of them was named Cleopas. I mean, this is not Peter James, John Matthew. It's not one of the twelve or the eleven now. It's a guy by the name of Cleopas. And who was the other? Some say it was a man, you know, like the like the eleven, another male disciple. Some suggest it may have been his wife. And I tend to think that John 1925 says that one of the women at the cross was a woman by the name of Mary, the wife of Cleopas. Now, little, little different spelling, but that's not unusual in that day. The question is, are Cleopas and Cleopas the same person? And you can read commentaries and so forth and there'll be both views. Some say, yeah, same guy. Some say, well, we don't know. We can't be sure or maybe not. But it's possible at least. I wouldn't start a new denomination on it. The Cleopas church. I wouldn't do that. But it's possible without being dogmatic. You could say this was a husband and wife on their way home from Jerusalem after the tumultuous events of these past three days. And they're going home. They're going home. Now, I just want to raise this thought before we end the night because we really don't have time to get into the story. I just want to raise this thought to you because this is what really grips me about this story. There are a lot of things that do how Jesus presents himself as not knowing what's happened in Jerusalem last three days. It's almost humorous. But the thing that really grips me is this. Jesus is fresh, just hours out of the tomb, fresh from the suffering of the cross and the glory of the resurrection. And you might think, who's he going to meet with first? I mean, who's he really going to think maybe all the disciples, you know, later he will appear to 500 in Galilee. You might think that would be the first thing on the resurrection day. That's exciting to get a big crowd together or at least the 11 or what about the celebration in heaven? Can you imagine what's going on in heaven with what's happened in the resurrection and all the jubilation of the angels and the Old Testament saints. There's a huge celebration still going on in heaven, but Jesus is not there. What really grips me is that Jesus shows up on a lonely road outside of Jerusalem to two people. We're not even sure who they are. Do you ever feel insignificant? Do I really count to God? Do I really matter? I mean, I know about the Billy Graham's and the Rick Warren's and all those people. But do I really count? There's anything this story tells us it's yes. To sad and despairing people, maybe a husband and wife, who we don't know anything else about and are never heard from again after this story. With all that Jesus could be doing, he's going to spend time with them on the day of his resurrection. I don't know about you, but that gives me some hope that he really does. I mean, we know he cares for all of us, but to see it in action like this on the greatest day in human history and Jesus seeks out this despairing couple that is insignificant really in the scheme of things. Amazing. Sammy? Yeah. Yeah. And I think they were a part of the disciples, not the 11, but there were others that were in Jerusalem at the time. We know there were women that had followed him from Galilee that were his disciples, and there were others who were his followers, and these two evidently were among that group. But that's the great unknown. I mean, those people are not known to us. I think they were there. I think they saw what had happened, at least to some degree. They certainly knew, like you're saying, they describe what's happened, and they've been a part of the band that's heard the stories. I mean, they'll talk about how some of the women came and amazed us with the story. So they were evidently part of the group that heard the testimony of the women that had come from the tomb. They're players in the story as far as the early group of disciples are concerned, but to us they're unknown, and it just is so precious to me that Jesus would take time on his resurrection day, to seek them out and join them on their journey, turning their hearts from despair to joy. He'll do the same for us. Yeah, same deal. Isn't it very? As announcing the birth to unknown shepherds out in the field. Yeah. God surprises us. He really does. He really does what he says in 1 Corinthians 1, that not many noble are called, not many wise. The foolish of the earth are the ones that he deals with. These are two more people they had to list. Have a recognition problem. Yeah. Yeah. But it's clear in their case this was a divine kind of veil over the rise that is lifted at some point in the evening, and they do recognize him. This is not probably related to how Jesus looked, but they are kept. There's a divine kind of veil put over their eyes where they they and there's a reason for that and it has to do with the way the story unfolds. Steve, I know you've had your hand up. I'm sorry, brother, but we're five minutes past and the kids are going to be storming the best steel here any moment. So we better go. Okay, let's pray. Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to just sit on this story for a while and let it soak in. To be able to just meditate and think about what it was like and to put ourselves back in the scene. Thank you, Lord, for the way the gospels give us this story in all of its simplicity, but all of its magnificence. Lord, we want to thank you for our risen Savior. We also want to thank you for the one who, on the most glorious day of his life, will seek out two lonely, relatively unknown people and lift their spirits. I pray that every one of us in this room would realize you love us in the same way, no matter who we are, no matter how insignificant we may feel. Thank you, thank you for your love and Jesus' name. Amen.