Freaking Out!!

I imagine the disciples of Jesus were really FREAKING OUT right about this time of the day (a couple thousand years ago.)
Mary had run to Peter and John (first thing earlier that morning) and, breathless, blurted to them that the tombstone had been rolled away. They had followed her and verified that, indeed, the stone had been removed and the body was not there.
Peter and John went home, but Mary SAW Jesus.
I imagine it was later in the day, perhaps around supper time, that the disciples were together...probably getting ready to eat a meal together. I imagine they were spooked, because they had been announcing the arrival of the Messiah, and now he was dead. I imagine they were extremely sad, because their friend, mentor, Lord, and traveling companion was gone. I imagine they were coming up with conspiracy theories as to who had stolen the body. I imagine they were afraid for their lives, as they had been the leaders of a new religious movement, but their movement was not stalled.

All that changed in a second.

ALL OF A SUDDEN, there He was calming their fears and their pain. "Peace be with you!"

I honestly can't imagine how I would have reacted. Cry? Laugh nervously? Faint? Hug Him? Refrain from hugging with uncertainty? Touched Him to make sure He was real?

But, that was a changing moment for those men. They changed the world starting at that moment. They all died for Jesus, so they must have believed that His resurrection was absolutely real.
And they had no concept that this would be the first of many celebrations about the resurrection!

Jesus CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD on this day about 2,000 years ago. I AM FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW. IT'S THE MOST AMAZING STORY EVER!

Lazarus' View on the Resurrection of Jesus

Well, I really can't say much about the resurrection of Jesus...but, I CAN tell you about my own resurrection experience!
I was dead...totally, completely, in-the-ground, dead for four days.

My sisters tell me that when my good friend Jesus heard, he came. He was a little late, but he still came. He talked to my sister about resurrection. Spooky stuff, right?

He told some folks to roll the stone away from my grave. They objected at first. "He'll stink by now!"

All I can say is this: The first voice I remember hearing was that of Jesus. He told me to come out of my grave. I had a burial cloth on my face, and linen wrapped around my body, so I just got up and followed the voice as best I could. Soon, friends were taking off my burial clothes and replacing them with the clothes of the living.

I will die again one day.

But this time, I'm not scared. I'm not scared because I KNOW the first voice I'll hear after I "fall asleep" is that of Jesus. And, like last time, he will tell me to get up and leave my grave.
He raised me from the dead, and later on, he raised himself.

One day, His will be the first voice YOU will hear, if you believe...