Dear Easter Friends,
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
When I was a kid, a man named Paul Harvey was noted for a daily program called (I think) “And Now, The Rest of the Story”. He’d take a story everyone was familiar with and provide interesting insights into the lead up to the famous story, or what happened after the story took place. For example – after telling a story about a bumbling, up to his eyes in debt barkeeper who became a lawyer after losing a couple of bankruptcy cases he ended with, “… and now you know the rest of the story of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. Good day.”
After Easter, we hear the familiar account of Jesus’ upper room appearance to His disciples in John’s gospel. The one where He breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, gives them power to forgive sins, then a week later, helps Thomas to believe by showing him His scarred hands and side. It would appear from John that only Thomas had his doubts. But Luke tells us – the rest of the story. Luke tells us more about Jesus sudden appearance in the upper room (Luke 24:36-49). Here we see that they too had their doubts. They too needed proof that Jesus was, in fact, alive. It wasn’t until they also saw Jesus’ nail scarred hands and feet and watched Him eat some broiled fish that they believed He was alive.
Then He proceeded to open their minds to understand the scriptures; everything Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms said about Him. He told them clearly how He alone fulfilled the promises found in what we call the Old Testament. Finally, He said, “You are the witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48). The disciples had a hard time believing too. But Jesus enabled them to believe so they could pass the stories along that we too “by believing may have life in His name” (John 19:31). And now we know the rest of the story. Good day.
In the Risen Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim