He is One of Us
Skip lagging is a sneaky way to travel to your destination while pretending you’re going somewhere else. Most airlines forbid the practice and threaten lifetime bans on travelers who skiplag a flight. Jesus has a ticket to rejoin his Father in heaven, but he stops in Jerusalem and Galilee instead to see a host of friends.
What does this have to do with Easter? In John 10:1-10, some traveling is going on. There is a traveler. He is AWOL. He is not where he is supposed to be, and everyone is up in arms, including his faithless followers, the Roman government, and the guards.
Peter and John raced to the tomb after Mary Magdalene told them the body was gone. John 20:8 says John went inside; “he saw and believed.” Then the disciples returned to their homes” (V.10). They went home. Not a big deal. The body is gone. Graverobbers or Roman guards had made off with the body. It was out of their hands. Jesus was dead. However, in Luke 22:23, the word is circulating that Jesus is alive.
Why didn’t Jesus go directly to heaven?
In Luke 24:33, He appeared to Simon. In Luke 24:37, 41, 43, they found some “broiled fish” and Jesus ate it with his disciples. Why does Jesus do this? Why doesn’t He fly off to his destination, Heaven, instead of scaring the daylights out of people?
What’s so striking about Jesus’s resurrection appearances is his persistence in dispelling the notion that he was a figment of their imagination. So, he goes to great lengths to prove that he is not a spirit, apparition, or ghost. “Look at my hands and feet,” he said to them. “Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and blood as you know I have.” At one point, he “showed them his hands and feet” (Luke 24:39-40).
From the time of Jesus’ resurrection to his ascension into heaven, approximately 50 days elapsed. During this time, Jesus had conversations with hundreds of people. The first person he saw was a woman, Mary Magdalene. He also saw Mary, James’s mother. He saw Peter and the two men on the Emmaus Road. Later, he confronted Thomas and showed the doubting disciple the scars on his hands and feet and the gash on his side. Thomas tells the Lord, “I believe.”
Why are these appearances important? The Bible stresses that Jesus was one of us. The writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus “had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect.”
“Because he was tested by what he suffered, he can help those who are being tested” (Hebrews 2:17-18). We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). We can pray to Jesus because “He gets us.”
In the Gospel, we see that Jesus didn’t appear as a man; Jesus didn’t beam down as a 30-yearold male and then just started his ministry. He was a fetus in the womb, a baby in arms, a toddler who would have stumbled around as he figured out how to walk and all the rest of it. He experienced the fullness of what it means to be physically human.
In the text, Mary’s eyes were opened, and after Jesus left, she went to the disciples and said, “I have seen the Lord” Verse 18. Jesus’ detour en route to the Father’s right hand served a purpose. Jesus is one of us. The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. They were wrong. He was one of them. And if we are going to experience the power of resurrection, we, too, must put aside our doubts. He is one of us!
Be encouraged!
•
Rev. Chestine Sims Jr. of White Hall is the pastor of St. John AME Church at Pine Bluff. The community is invited to join the church for worship in person and on Facebook live at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
•
Editor’s note: Pastors, ministers or other writers interested in writing for this section may submit articles for consideration to shope@ pbcommercial.com. Please include your phone number and the name and location of your church or ministry. Writers should have a connection to Southeast Arkansas.