We can only imagine what it must have been like for everyone the day after Jesus’ resurrection. Learning of his resurrection must have been overwhelming (Jesus wishes to overwhelm us at times), both for his followers as well as for his enemies. The devastating disappointment, sadness and confusion (darkness) turned to unspeakable joy for his followers. For his enemies, unspeakable joy turned to pure panic. Yes, things can change that quickly, even the extremes. The Titanic sunk in three hours; a ship that took three years to build.
The text of scripture tells us that his enemies scrambled to figure out a response. They settled on bribing the guards to lie about what happened. Lying is one way out of a mess. Being right is the other.
Interesting, isn’t it, that his resurrection didn’t inspire his enemies to repent and follow him? They were so pitted against him that he literally came back to life after being certifiably dead and they still fought against him. They knew they lost the battle but they still fought. Human arrogance and pride is a fascinating thing; it makes us so disillusioned that we’d rather die than to humble ourselves.
The response of Jesus’ enemies to the truth of the resurrection also reminds us that proof does not inspire belief.
There was once a mad man who believed himself to be dead. Because of his condition, he decided to go to a psychologist for help. He explained to the doctor that he was dead and needed a solution for his dilemma.
Scratching his head, the psychologist struggled to find a way to convince his client that he was not, in fact, dead. Let’s try proof.
“Do dead people bleed?,” asked the doctor.
“They certainly don’t.”
“Then if I were to prick your finger with a pin, you would not bleed because you’re dead. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Do you mind?,” asked the doctor as he grabbed a small safety pin from his desk drawer.
“Go right ahead.”
The psychologist pricked his client’s finger, and as was expected, it began to bleed.
The client looked at the drop of blood on his finger in disbelief. His disbelief turned quickly to excitement.
Mouth and eyes wide open, he exclaimed, “Look at that! I was wrong after all! Dead people DO bleed!”
Proof does not make people believe (and certainly not obey).
This is evidenced in Jesus’ enemies’ response to his resurrection. I would imagine that this is also what it will be like upon Jesus’ return. The Scripture teaches that when he returns, all will see that he is the King. Many people have asked, “That being the case, aren’t all people just going to repent and worship him at that point? That doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
Two things in response to this: (1) no, it doesn’t seem fair, but when has salvation ever been about being fair? (2) Just because Jesus and Christians will be vindicated at his second coming doesn’t mean that people will repent because of it. If his enemies didn’t repent at his resurrection, then we can be pretty well sure that his enemies won’t repent at his return (although we pray that they do).
Some really good points in here; thank you.