Resurrection was a known idea in Jesus’ time and so to speak of rising from the dead would not have been an unfamiliar concept for the disciples. However, it was generally thought that resurrection would be something that would be experienced corporately with all the righteous together. Jesus’ words indicate that the resurrection of the Son of Man will be different from what was commonly thought. Perhaps this is why Jesus asks the disciples to keep it a secret, so they weren’t drawing attention to themselves by not holding to consensus views… but hang on Jesus rarely seemed concerned about keeping the established consensus

It is pretty clear that the disciples have not fully grasped the enormity of what has happened, and who could blame them! I wonder whether Jesus asks them to keep this a secret until they more fully understand, so the power of their testimony can have more impact. Don’t get me wrong, it can be extremely profound demonstrating our vulnerability and sometimes the best answer we can give is one that says that you don’t really understand. But when we understand more fully, when we have lived through the resurrection experience and then look back and see that what has happened makes sense, then the power of our testimony takes on new impact.

Sometimes we don’t actually realise we’ve been on “Mountain Top Experiences” until much later. Remember we are first commanded to “Listen”, we don’t have to rush off and speak straight away. We continue our journey of revelation knowing that our relationship with the Son of Man will form the most profound story we will ever tell, and we might not even have to use words. SP

Questions

Prayer

Loving God, we thank you for sending your Son so that we might have words of comfort, hope, and transformation. Continue to transform us so that we might be effective witnesses to your resurrection in our world. Amen.