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After realizing the tomb is empty, the disciples do something curious: they return to the place they were staying. I can imagine that they first want to discuss what has happened and try to process the reality that Jesus is alive. Can you imagine the conversations, questions, doubts, prayers, wild hopes, and deep reverence they must have felt? And yet, these same disciples would not stay huddled together in a private place. They would go forth boldly proclaiming the resurrection, repentance, forgiveness of sins, and restoration of all things. Their message would start in Jerusalem but spread to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In short, what the disciples experienced during those three days would change the world.

The message of Jesus’ resurrection is still changing the world. It is the ultimate reminder that death is not the end of our story, evil does not have the final say, and that someday God will do what He did to Jesus’ body to the whole of creation. This is the hope that billions of people believe on every continent and in every nation around the globe. The first disciples discovering Jesus’ empty tomb could not have imagined how far and wide this Gospel would be proclaimed. And one day, when history is done, and all things are made new, the people of God will fall on our faces before God and declare with one voice that this resurrected Jesus is Lord, Savior, and King.

Reflection: Thank God for the glory of the resurrection and the hope of the world to come!

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