If you鈥檝e been following this reading plan, you鈥檝e read the account of the women at the tomb several times, and each one was slightly different. Don鈥檛 let that confuse you. If two people witness the same event, they鈥檒l remember it differently. Matthew wrote his account from things that Mary and the others said, but he wasn鈥檛 at the tomb. Mark wasn鈥檛, either. Luke didn鈥檛 become a believer until years later, so his account is also slightly different. John, however, was at the tomb and in the room where the disciples had hunkered down in fear of the religious leaders.
The women went to the tomb and found it empty, ran to get the disciples, and brought Peter and John back with them. John tells us that he, the disciple whom Jesus loved, believed when he saw the empty tomb but that he didn鈥檛 yet understand what Scripture had said about Jesus rising from the dead. That was at dawn. Later that same day, the disciples were gathered in a locked room, afraid that the same people who had arrested Jesus and handed him over to the Romans would come for the disciples next.
Jesus appeared, and their fear turned to overwhelming joy. They saw the nail marks on his hands and feet, and a week later Thomas did, too. Where was Thomas the first time around? We don鈥檛 know, but he wanted to see the nail marks with his own eyes. Jesus let him see what he asked for, but then Jesus said the people who believe Jesus rose from the dead without seeing him are blessed.
That includes you! We won鈥檛 see Jesus face to face until heaven, but if we believe, we are blessed: with eternal life, with a life changed by Christ in the here and now, and with hope, peace, love, and joy. One day we鈥檒l see him, but we can rejoice in our blessings even now.
Pray: Dear God, thank you for your promises. Thank you for your peace, hope, joy, and love that I can share with the people around me. I pray for my loved ones and neighbors who don鈥檛 yet have a relationship with you. Help them to believe, so that they can have these blessings and be a life changed by Christ! Amen