Day 20, John 20

Blogger: James Chang

Imagine if the Gospel of John had ended abruptly at John 19:42, and no record existed of Jesus’ resurrection. What sad ending this would have been for the disciples. This major let-down would have squashed any hope left in them, while constantly being pursued and ridiculed by the Jews for following the dead guy who claimed to be the King of the Jews. There would be no New Testament to speak of, and I wonder how this world would have turned out in the absence of Jesus’ victorious resurrection.

As I read through John 20, I noticed a few things that I thought were important to remember regarding Christ's resurrection. It was a real event -- Jesus’ body was gone, and the tomb was empty three days after his death, to fulfill his claims in John 2:19-21. Secondly, the risen Christ reappeared to His disciples. The initial shock gave way to joy when Jesus showed himself at the secret gatherings, to authenticate his claims of deity. He even allowed them to touch his scars, so they could finally understand that he was the real Risen Christ (see John 2:22). Many of these eyewitnesses were later martyred for boldly proclaiming the gospel. Clearly death had no hold on their eternal souls. Finally, as Jesus reappeared to the disciples, his words were "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He cared so much for the lost sheep of the world that he wasted no time in urging his disciples to go out to evangelize and take the gospel to the rest of the world. It was because of this commission that you and I are believers today.

Can you see Jesus’ passion for humanity in this passage? Don't you wish you shared the same love for the unbeliever? I often ask myself, what am I doing about evangelism in my personal life? What keeps me from inviting someone to a small group, or Sunday service? How about finding opportunities to share a personal story of God's blessing and mercy with someone? Or how about offering a Christian book to a friend who loves to read? We can think of so many ideas, but we need to consider what keeps us from acting on them. Let me challenge you to do something this week that will let others see a glimpse of Jesus in you.

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