Oookay. The chocolate bunnies are eaten (or melted). The Peeps are put away for next year. (Does anyone actually eat them?) Eggs are found. Baskets are rummaged through. The overflow seats for the sanctuary are dollied away.
Now can we focus on the Resurrection?
Easter hype is fine. Good actually. But it can be distracting, especially since every Sunday, every day in fact, is a celebration of the Resurrection. Maybe that’s why Jesus gave us a few post-Easter appearances to help the Resurrection experience settle into our daily lives.
The world got to enjoy a period of 40 days (curious amount of days) of Jesus in His resurrected state. During this time Jesus made several appearances, some famous, some lesser known. You wonder how any post-resurrection appearance could be considered “lesser known”! It’s just that a few of them were really famous!
Use Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances as resurrection booster shots into your and your students’ daily lives. Feel free to use the accompanying image for a post or tweet. As you look at each scene (or however many you’d like), consider the following questions as a way to inject the scene into your daily life, thus effectively giving yourself a resurrection booster.
- What does each scene tell you about the kingdom of God?
- How does each give you encouragement for the pressures you’re facing now?
- What does each compel you to want to do?
- What act can you do with your hands over the next 24 hours and what change can you make in your heart right now?
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1. Jesus saying “peace” to his disciples, even to Thomas later Notice the first word out of Jesus’ resurrected mouth each time He sees a disciple for the first time. John 20:19-20 John 20:21 John 20:26 |
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2. Jesus restoring Peter One could make a good case that the disciple least eager to see Jesus was Peter. The hours before Jesus’ crucifixion were not Peter’s finest. So, let’s see how things turned out for him. John 21:9-19 |
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3. Progression of Appearances If you were to spin a tale about Someone rising from the dead, you probably wouldn’t say that this Someone was seen by many people, minimizing your sphere of corroboration. That didn’t seem to be the case here. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 |
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4. Disciples Fishing This might be one of the coolest Resurrection appearances by Jesus in that He simply inserted Himself into the disciples’ daily routine: work, breakfast, and even a count of caught fish. John 21:1-14 |
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5. The “Great Commission” This is one of the most famous of Jesus’ resurrection scenes and, often one of the most misapplied. Here’s a detail you have likely never noticed before: look for the doubt in this scene. Matthew 28:16-20 |