The Resurrection: My Lord and My God

Just as the disciples illustrate what it means to believe, they also give us an example of what it means to live as one who has been made alive in Jesus Christ.

It is no accident that John declares his purpose for this book—that his readers might have life—immediately after he records the resurrection. Jesus’s victory over the grave is our confidence in eternal life. The promised life comes only through connection with him. When we placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we were placed in Christ. Eternal life became ours because the life of Christ now courses through our spiritual veins. Like the adopted child welcomed into a new family, we have been welcomed into an intimate, eternal relationship with the triune God. Just as that child’s existence is now completely swallowed up in the experiences of life in this new family, our existence is to be completely swallowed up in our relationship with Christ. We are to move, laugh, serve, love—everything—in him.

The new life Jesus gives begins in this life and extends eternally. Only a small portion of it is lived in our current earthly existence. Jesus calls us to use this brief time for a grand and glorious purpose. He commissions us to take the message of the gospel to those who have not heard it so they can believe, receive forgiveness of sin, and find life in him. He sends his disciples in the same way in which he was sent (vv. 21-23): in obedience to the Father, empowered by the Spirit, to proclaim the message of salvation. That is our pattern for ministry. The significance of this work demands a supernatural commission and supernatural empowerment.

There is no greater joy than to serve the Father. And to think that he placed us in a body of like-minded believers so that we could band together in our service for him! Each church is uniquely commissioned by God to take his message to the world. We have the privilege of proclaiming the wonders of God’s salvation to those who are desperately in need of it. Don’t miss out on the great honor God has given you as his ambassador, and don’t minimize the role of the church in God’s great plan. We were saved into the greatest institution the world has ever known so that we could declare the greatest message the world has ever heard.

We are sent by Jesus in the same way that he was sent by the Father. Don’t forget that Jesus came to us. He didn’t wait for us to come to him. He descended from heaven, took on the form of a man, and ministered in the villages and towns where men lived. Jesus took the initiative. He sacrificed comfort. He went out to us where we were. Too many Christians shout advice to drowning men from the safety of the shore, but that’s not what Jesus did. He dove in and swam out to rescue us. It’s easy to view evangelism the same way a doctor might view a deadly outbreak. We make sure we’ve got our hazmat suits on, and then we’ll stand outside the quarantined area and offer suggestions to anyone who comes to ask. Maybe we’ll even train the workers who go in to help. But we don’t learn that model from Jesus. He sprinted into the middle of the outbreak and rescued those who had been infected. He willingly sacrificed his life so they might be saved.

When Jesus miraculously enters the room where the disciples are hiding, he discovers a group of men trembling in fear, but once they see him, the fear melts and “the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord” (v. 20). Their fear turned to gladness, and their sorrow turned to joy, exactly as Jesus had told them (16:20). The presence of Jesus transformed their attitude from sadness to gladness.

In this text Jesus repeats the greeting, “Peace be with you,” three different times (vv. 19, 21, 26). It’s been suggested that this is nothing more than a standard greeting, the Hebrew equivalent of “hello.” If so, then why does John record it three times in seven verses? It’s because Jesus is reminding them of an earlier promise: “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful” (14:27). The presence of Jesus transformed their attitude from anxiety to peace. Then Jesus promises that everyone who trusts him will be blessed (20:29). Blessed doesn’t simply mean happy. It means a person is accepted by God. They have, through faith, become recipients of all God’s blessings. God’s favor is permanently placed on them through the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus repeatedly told the disciples, “Come to me and you will receive eternal life, real peace, lasting joy, and divine acceptance.” God wants us to be happy. He wants to bless us. He created us to pursue joy in him through Jesus. But we don’t take his offer seriously. Instead of pursuing these blessings he promises, we settle for empty substitutes around us. Few people have taught this as clearly as C. S. Lewis:

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (“The Weight of Glory,” 26)

The Gospel of John was written to help us understand that there is a greater pleasure than the mud pies of this world. Jesus offers us the ultimate treasure: eternity with him. Here is where all of these truths merge. Eternal life—ours through faith in Jesus Christ—brings us into relationship with God. In relationship with God we discover immeasurable blessings. These blessings that flow to us from the person of God motivate our mission. We want to bring others into the infinite joy of relationship with God.