Luke 24:9-12 (NIV)
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
The women ran from the tomb in fear, and went straight to the disicples, who were lying low in the upper room. Hurriedly, with their words spilling over each other, they shared what had just happened: the rolled-away stone, the empty grave clothes, the light, the angels, and their message of resurrection and fulfilled prophesies. But the disciples discounted their words completely – not because they were women, but because what they were saying was so far outside normal experience. Things just didn’t work that way in the real world!
But Peter, after a moment’s hesitation, got up and decided to check things out for himself. Even if you discounted the story about the angels, something was clearly not right at the tomb and needed to be checked out. (John makes a point of telling us in John 20:3-9 that he went along with Peter to the tomb, even outrunning him!) Jesus had told them all several times that He would be killed by the gentiles and then rise from the dead. On one of those occasions, Peter had rebuked Him, and had been strongly rebuked himself (Mark 8:31-33). But Peter now realized that the first part of Jesus’ prophecy had been fulfilled in spades. Could the other part be fulfilled as well?
When Peter got to the tomb, he walked straight in, and saw exactly what the women had reported: the wrappings were still there, but the body was clearly gone.
As Peter left the tomb, a thousand possibilities flooded his brain. The body could have been stolen, but by whom? And for what purpose? He double-checked the area to make sure that he had the right tomb, but there was no mistake there. So, he simply left the garden, scratching his head in bewilderment.
The only theory that Peter was unwilling to consider at this point was the one that both the empty tomb and the women clearly attested to: that Jesus, true to His word, had indeed risen from the dead, and was now walking around somewhere alive again. Even when that idea popped briefly to the surface of his mind, he swatted it away. It was inconceivable! Things just didn’t happen that way.
Father, Jesus was right when He chided the disicples when He appeared to them later that day: “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25) Even after all that they had seen Jesus do, none of His followers were even willing to consider that He could rise from the dead. They allowed their knowledge of the “real world” to dictate what they would consider possible for You to accomplish. They even discounted the wonders You had done in the past, under the rubric of “God doesn’t work that way anymore.” And, unfortunately, I hear that same rubric today in the Church, hear people putting the same limitations on what even Christians are willing to believe that You can do. Forgive us, Lord, and show us Your power in ways that will open us up to new possibilities. Amen.