Jesus is Risen, and the Disciples Fear and Doubt

This morning I am reading the resurrection accounts and a few things have struck me:


(NIV)Matthew 28:1, 8-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
[8] So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. [9] Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. [10] Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”


It was the women who were unafraid to go and see Jesus tomb. It was the women who were going to anoint his body (Mark and Luke). It was the women who first saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. It was the women who were faithful to their relationship with Him. I think that we can draw some truth from these accounts of the women - namely that Jesus will respond to love and faithfulness in our relationship with Him. He will be seen. He will be encountered.


The other verse that caught my eye was: (NIV)Matthew 28:17
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.


This verse takes place in Galilee, after the resurrection, after they have heard He has Risen, and after He showed himself to them. Yet even after all this some still persisted in their doubt. After Pentecost there was no more doubt, but in this state of grieving and weakness they still doubted. I am glad that at this point Jesus didn't dump the ones that doubted and feared, but trusted that they would ultimately be the men and women that He knew they were.


I guess that we could say that Jesus was totally confident in the people He chose, and totally confident in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. He was unafraid that the great commission was being placed into the hands of a weak, fearful, doubting group of people. This is an encouraging word to me, as i know my heart and its doubts and fears. If Jesus is confident in those that doubted and feared after they were eyewitnesses to His resurrection, then He is confident in His choice of me, despite my limitations and struggles with faithlessness.


Its not me, its Him living in me, that He is confident in! That is what He purchased, that is what He paid for! He knows His sacrifice was successful, and He knows my heart, and He is confident. Praise God!