Convincing Proofs

On this Lord’s Day Sunday, we pause in contemplation, as we are reminded of this special time of our Risen, Conquering Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We think of how our Lord’s heart, His passion, was to convince His own disciples, that He was really alive. Jesus knew how much His death impacted on His followers. He knew that three days on, they would have been still bruised and sorrowing in heart and spirit, confused and alone, because He was no longer with them. He knew that He needed to spend time with them, in body, human flesh body, if they were to believe that He was actually alive, now, in the present. These disciples of Jesus believed in the resurrection of the dead, but they did not understand that Jesus literally meant that He would come out of the grave, a living person, to be among them again, after three days.  

Jesus understood them perfectly and in His deep love, care and concern for them, He spent forty days with them and among them, giving them convincing proofs that He was alive. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Acts 1: 3

Will you let this work through you and chase away all fears, anxieties, skepticism and doubts? For a moment, look at Jesus, not the disciples; look at Jesus, not at you. Look, listen and believe!

It was Jesus, who wanted His disciples to know that He was risen from the grave and that He was really alive. This was not any prayer of even one single disciple. This was the plan, wholly and solely of the Risen Lord. Do you believe it still to be true, in this our present day? You do not have to pray, or wish, work for, or make all kinds of effort to know whether or not Jesus is alive. Jesus is the same in Spirit and Passion. He is the One who wants you to know that He has conquered all sin, all hell and the power of the grave, so He makes the first move to find you wherever you are and in whatsoever state you are, to bring you all that He delights to bring you.

Just a few hours before His crucifixion, one of the last memories of Himself, which He gave to His disciples was that of a servant, a person in active service.  Jesus stripped Himself of His outer garments and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13: 5. This picture of the serving Master is the same we are being made to ponder upon, after Jesus rises from the grave. Observe! He makes the first move on each occasion as He convincingly proves to them, over those forty days, that He is their same Jesus who has been resurrected from the dead. Is He not serving them?

If we roughly counted our Lord’s forty days or almost six weeks of our Lord’s mission after His resurrection, His mission of convincing His disciples that He was alive, a real person with flesh and bones, we would be in week five. In other words, today would begin the fifth week of our Lord’s convincing actions and moves to prove Himself as their same Jesus, no longer dead and in a grave, but their Jesus, alive and with them again.

In these forty days of convincing proofs and teaching about God’s Kingdom, we are made even more aware of the patience and protection of Jesus over all His disciples. We are drawn in even more intimate fellowship, as we not only see how He served the disciples then, but how He is still serving us today, all who believe. 

Let us hold fast to who our Risen Lord Jesus was and still is, to all who love and follow Him, but who have issues and doubts about themselves and His Resurrection.

Tomorrow, we look at a few occasions during those forty days when Jesus appeared to His followers.