What if I told you that someone buried in Oakland Cemetary had risen from the grave? What if I told you that their burial place was broken open and no body could be found? What would be your first impulse?
“But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however got up and ran to the tomb.” Luke 24.11,12a (NIV).
Some would probably think it was crazy. Some would consider it mere nonsense. But some, like Peter, would run to the tomb to see for themselves. It stands to reason that those who had the most to lose or gain would be the first to examine the site. Everyone of any importance knew where Jesus had been buried. I wonder how many people visited there over the first few days. Perhaps a hundred? Maybe a thousand? Is it reasonable to believe that it was a large number?
If a large number of people examined that grave and found it to be empty, wouldn’t that help to explain why so many people converted to following Jesus on the day of Pentecost? That might also explain why “The Way” spread so rapidly in such a short time. It could also help us understand why such a story would survive such great persecution, span so many borders and boundaries, and continue to shape history as radically now as it did 2000 years ago.
“Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.” Luke 24.12b
Peter eventually came to a conclusion about what he’d seen and his life, and the world, changed forever.
Have you come to a conclusion? What will it change?
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
by Rob Leonard, Pauline Baptist Church, MBSF.
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