Previous to his arrest, trial, and crucifixion Jesus had, on more than one occasion, announced to the apostles that these dreadful things were going to occur. For example, many months beforehand Jesus told them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered up to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him. And the third day He will rise again," (Luk. 18:31-33). One would think that after three years of close association with Jesus these chosen men would have gained some skill in perceiving the meaning of Jesus' words. But it was not so with respect to these amazing words. They evidently thought this announcement contained some cryptic message totally different from the plain, surface meaning of the words. For one thing, they did not expect He would be abused and executed by the Jewish hierarchy. As He traveled incognito with two of His disciples just after He had risen, one of them said to Him, "We were hoping that it was He (Jesus) who was going to redeem Israel," (Luk. 24:21). In other words, they had not expected Jesus to be killed and fail to restore Israel to freedom and political power.
It was the other part of His prediction, however, that must have been most perplexing to them. The declaration that on the third day of His death He would rise from the grave with renewed life was incomprehensible to them. Either this announcement was a coded message that meant something other than it appeared, or it was so strange and extraordinary that it just slipped right through their memory. So when certain women visited His tomb that Sunday morning, only to find it empty except for angels who proclaimed His resurrection, the apostles found it impossible to believe their report. The lead text above reveals their conclusion upon hearing the women's testimony.
Rather than scorn the apostles for reacting with doubt to the reports of Jesus' resurrection, we should rather be thankful for our own sake that they did. Antagonists of Christ and Christianity have always claimed that the resurrection was a hoax designed to lend credence to the claim of Jesus' divinity as well as to counteract the embarrassment and shame of His ignominious death. But the reports of these men's reluctance to accept the testimony of Jesus' resurrection is one of several authentications of that marvelous event. One would expect them eagerly to have grasped the reports to dispel their grief and assure them that their three-year investment of work, sacrifice, and hope in His ministry had not been in vain. It is remarkable that they were so resistant and slow to accept what other reliable witnesses were declaring was fact.
Everyone must reach his own conclusion about the reality of Jesus' resurrection, for Christianity has no power without the faith that it did occur. We are told that "if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins," (I Cor. 15:16-17). Because of this categorical statement, and others in the New Testament like it, it has been said that Jesus' resurrection is the center point of Christianity. Accepting it as truth clears the way for the forgiveness of sins. Rejecting it dooms one to go on his way in life under the weight of accumulating sin which in the end will cause that soul to be lost. Christianity begins for an individual only when he is persuaded that Jesus did rise from the dead, and the attitude and behavior of the apostles are strong testimony to the reality of that awesome event.
