Reflective Bible Study

As we come to the end of Mark’s gospel, we will spend this episode, and the next one looking at the longer conclusion of Mark’s gospel. As I shared in our last episode, many people a lot smarter than me have significant doubts to Mark writing this conclusion. This is primarily because a different style of writing is used in this conclusion, the way this conclusion summarizes what happened using different theological content than the rest of Mark’s gospel, and because several significant early manuscripts do not include this ending. The footnotes in my New American Standard Bible conclude that “Mark’s gospel probably ends at chapter 16, verse 8, or the original ending has been lost”.

I had debated leaving this ending out of our podcasts, but decided against it because while there is debate over whether Mark included this conclusion in his original gospel, nothing included in it is contrary to Christianity or Christian belief. Also, I decided to include it because leaving off at the end of our last episode’s passage seems to leave Mark unfinished.

With that said, let’s read the first portion of Mark’s extended conclusion and discover what we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 9, the author of this conclusion tells us:

⁹ Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

¹² After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. ¹³ They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.

¹⁴ Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Let’s stop reading here and save the rest for our next episode. In these few verses, it is interesting that Mark does not include any “new” information. All three encounters included in this portion of the conclusion are found in other gospels. The first encounter Mark’s conclusion described was Jesus speaking to Mary first. This is interesting because only John’s gospel includes this detail. While Mark and John could include the same thing while Matthew and Luke focus on different details, it would be very abnormal since Mark shares the most content with Matthew and Luke while John is left with many unique details and many unique events.

Following describing that Jesus spoke with Mary first, this conclusion shifts focus and summarizes that Jesus then appeared to two disciples as they were walking to the country. This event is found in detail in Luke’s gospel, and while we don’t know which two disciples these were, they were traveling to the town of Emmaus.

Thirdly, this conclusion describes Jesus appearing to the eleven disciples. Since Judas Iscariot had committed suicide and the disciples had not replaced his position yet, this referenced meeting would have included Thomas. John’s gospel describes two appearances with the first appearance missing Thomas, while the second appearance Thomas is present for.

When reading the first part of this conclusion, I can understand why some scholars have doubts about what is included here. The big thing I notice is that unlike the rest of Mark’s gospel, which includes details, this conclusion seems to prompt us to read other gospels to discover the details of what happened. One theory about Mark’s gospel is that it was written first, and if this was the case, it logically wouldn’t gloss over events that should have details included. Every other event in Mark’s gospel is either included in detail or not included. Mark doesn’t summarize without giving details.

However, there is a big theme that we can discover in this first half of Mark’s extended conclusion, and this theme is worth paying attention to. In each of the sections, we see a theme repeating. After Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, she reports this to the disciples. Verse 11 describes the disciples’ response: “When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.”

Next, Jesus appeared to two unnamed disciples traveling to the country. Verse 13 describes the rest of the disciples’ response: “They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.”

Verse 14 then includes Jesus appearing to the group of eleven as they were together and we see the following challenge, “He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

In this first section of Mark’s extended conclusion, the big theme that we can see is the difficulty these disciples had believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead. While other gospel writers, Matthew specifically, describe the religious leaders believing but bribing the soldiers to lie about what happened, the people who should have been the ones who believed the most were the disciples, who Jesus repeatedly told He would be killed and then resurrected.

This first section of Mark’s conclusion also suggests that the disciples had a difficult time accepting that Jesus would appear to people outside of their close circle before He appeared to them as a group. While this is what happened, I can understand the difficulty they faced with this reality. If Jesus had returned to life, the first logical place for Him to appear would be to His group of followers.

However, I wonder if the disciples doubted because they realized they had failed Jesus several nights earlier. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, they all scattered and fled. I wonder if doubts were in their minds that said Jesus had given up on them because they had abandoned Jesus.

But these doubts are lies from Satan. While we fail God more frequently than many of us would want to admit, God does not give up on us. One big failure on the part of these disciples is that they were hiding away, having locked themselves in a secret room. The first followers to see Jesus were the ones who were outside of that room. I have a suspicion that Jesus had really wanted to get the disciples to come to the tomb early on the morning of His resurrection, and to witness what the guards experienced. However, instead of scattering like the guards did, the disciples would be present for one of the greatest events in history, and they would get to see Jesus resurrected and death defeated.

Instead, like we all seem to default to, the disciples doubted other people because they did not see or experience what happened first hand. We all can fall into this trap, but this trap is a lie from Satan. Jesus did step out of the grave victorious, and this means that Satan’s lies against God have been shown to be false. Jesus loved us so much that He willingly faced some of the worst torture sinful humanity has come up with in order to show us how much God loves us.

Jesus was willing to face the cross for you. Instead of doubting God’s love and Jesus’ gift, let’s place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus that His sacrifice is enough to cover our sins and give us salvation!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to accept Him rather than doubt. When people share what Jesus has done for them, accept and celebrate their stories. Look forward with them to the day Jesus returns to take us home to be with Him forever.

Also, be sure to continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we can open our hearts to God and we can learn to trust Him as we learn just how much He loves us. While skeptics like to point to challenging events in the Bible, God has revealed Himself to us through the Bible and the biggest theme we can find in the Bible is God’s love for us and His desire to redeem us from sin!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or doubt where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

After John describes in His gospel that Jesus met Mary in the garden and that she came and told the disciples what had happened, John jumps to that evening. I wonder if during that entire Sunday between these two events, the disciples were full of questions, doubt, and curiosity over a clearly empty tomb, and the possibility of a resurrected Jesus.

However, while we don’t know what Jesus was doing during the entire day leading up to what John focuses on that evening, the next event John describes happens that evening.

Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 20, and we will read it using the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 19, John describes the scene to us:

¹⁹ It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁰ After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.” ²² Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Pausing briefly, I find it amazing in this event that Jesus breathes on His disciples, which I suspect has more symbolic meaning than physical. I wonder if this breathing is symbolically connected to God breathing into the nostrils of Adam in the garden after He had formed him. God breathed the breath of life into Adam, and now we see Jesus breathing on His disciples and connecting this breath with receiving the Holy Spirit and a brand new spiritual life.

It is also significant to point out that Jesus gives His followers the authority to forgive sins, which is something that is normally reserved for God. However, the immediate context for this is having the Holy Spirit in one’s life, so while God can forgive sins, and while Jesus can forgive sins, the Holy Spirit, when living in a believer’s heart and life can also forgive sins. While this might bring up pictures in your mind of a catholic confessional booth, I suspect that Jesus meant for this promise and responsibility to be applied in a much different way.

When Jesus gave His followers this responsibility when the Holy Spirit had entered their lives, I believe He expected His followers to apply it in the same way He applied it. If someone rejected Jesus, Jesus’ message, or Jesus’ presence, then they potentially would not receive forgiveness. However, while being nailed to a cross, Jesus asks God the Father to forgive those who were acting hostile towards Him, which tells us that Jesus preferred to forgive others rather than withhold forgiveness.

I suspect that this responsibility Jesus gives His followers is a responsibility that seeks to draw people to God, and to encourage them that God can forgive and that He has forgiven them through what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Forgiveness for sins is something that happens after one has sinned, and for forgiveness to stay present, there is the expectation that one will repent from their sin, which is a fancy way of saying that they will stop doing whatever sin they were doing. God has forgiven us, but we accept His forgiveness when we repent and believe in Jesus.

However, John isn’t finished sharing, because while we might think that all the disciples were present in that room, John tells us that one was missing. Continuing in verse 24, John tells us that:

²⁴ One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later the disciples were together again indoors, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe!”

²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!”

³⁰ In his disciples’ presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. ³¹ But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life.

In this second half of our passage, we discovered that during the first time Jesus appeared to all the disciples, that it really wasn’t all the disciples. While Judas Iscariot was obviously not present since he had committed suicide, for one reason or another, Thomas was also not with the disciples.

When hearing about Jesus appearing before the other disciples, Thomas makes the famous statement that he won’t believe unless he sees Jesus personally, and that he is able to touch Jesus’ scars.

From that point forward, Thomas picks up the nickname of doubter. Doubting Thomas is who he is known as from that point forward. However, is this a fair nickname for this disciple?

I don’t believe it is. While Thomas strongly proclaims his doubt and hesitation over not seeing Jesus, Thomas demands to be able to see and touch Him. However, when Jesus appears to the disciples the following week, and challenges Thomas to touch His scars, nothing in this passage indicates that Thomas actually touches Jesus. Thomas proclaims in verse 28: “My Lord and my God!”

Following this, Jesus replies in verse 29: “Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!”

The end of Thomas’ story that’s recorded in the Bible has Thomas believing in Jesus, and from Jesus’ words, we can conclude that Thomas decided His belief and faith did not need to touch Jesus as well. Thomas believed Jesus was alive because he saw Him with his own eyes.

However, Jesus uses this as an opportunity to give all those who would come after a blessing. Jesus uses the same phrasing that He used in the opening of His famous Sermon on the Mount to give those who would believe in Jesus without seeing a blessing. This translation uses the word happy, while other translations used the word blessed. The word that is used here carries the ideas of blessing, happiness, spiritually security, and favored by God. When we believe in Jesus without requiring Him to show up physically in our lives, God promises to bless us, to favor us, and to give us His happiness.

The whole story of scripture, especially the gospel record, contains examples of how humanity fails to achieve God’s ideal plan. In this passage, God gave Thomas an opportunity to believe without needing to see personally, but Thomas failed this opportunity.

However, Jesus takes Thomas’ failure and uses it to emphasize that those who believe in Jesus based on the testimony of others will be blessed. When we believe in Jesus based on the testimony we read in the Bible, and on the testimony we see in people’s changed lives, we step into God’s blessing, and into His favor. While there are plenty of reasons for a skeptic to doubt, there are even more reasons for us to test God’s way out in our own lives and see if God’s way is better.

If you never try God’s way, you won’t know whether it is truly better. The Bible is full of examples of humanity’s failures, so simply looking at other Christians might not give you an accurate picture. Many un-Christ-like people call themselves Christians. God has not called us to be like them. We are called to model Jesus, and the best way to do this is to study firsthand what He was like!

God has called us to believe in Jesus even if we can’t see Him. God’s promises never fail, and He has promised to return and bring all of His people home. In the context of this passage, God’s people are those who have chosen to place their hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus to cover their sins!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus even if you cannot see, touch, or hear Him. Choose to place your faith on the testimony of others, in the promises contained in the Bible, and on stepping into God’s plan for your life. Only by living God’s way will one truly discover if it is better.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover who Jesus truly was. The Bible calls us to be disciples of Jesus, and disciples of Jesus are people who reflect Him and His character. In order to know what Jesus was like, we must study Him, and the best place to prayerfully study Jesus is in the pages of the Bible.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we enter the final chapter in Mark’s gospel, we come to the biggest event in the entire Bible. However, the last chapter in Mark is significant for more reasons than simply because it describes the morning of Jesus’ resurrection and the women finding an empty tomb. Above all these things, the last chapter in Mark has controversy surrounding it because the oldest manuscripts we have don’t really conclude this gospel. Mark’s gospel is a gospel without an end.

However, this detail didn’t stop later writers from crafting an ending to Mark’s gospel, and most Bible’s today will include a long or a short ending. However, neither one of these endings are included in the oldest surviving manuscripts.

With this framing in mind, as we read and conclude our passage for this episode, the way our passage ends could be considered the end of Mark’s gospel. While our next two podcast episodes will explore details included in the longer conclusion to Mark’s gospel, there is significant evidence that this ending was added later and not by Mark himself.

But what isn’t contested is what Mark describes in our passage for this episode. So without any further delay, let’s read what Mark tells us happened on the morning Jesus was resurrected. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ The day after the Sabbath day, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought some sweet-smelling spices to put on Jesus’ body. ² Very early on that day, the first day of the week, soon after sunrise, the women were on their way to the tomb. ³ They said to each other, “Who will roll away for us the stone that covers the entrance of the tomb?”

⁴ Then the women looked and saw that the stone had already been rolled away, even though it was very large. ⁵ The women entered the tomb and saw a young man wearing a white robe and sitting on the right side, and they were afraid.

⁶ But the man said, “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him. ⁷ Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’”

⁸ The women were confused and shaking with fear, so they left the tomb and ran away. They did not tell anyone about what happened, because they were afraid.

And that’s it. Everything after this last verse in our passage has more evidence against it being written by Mark than it has for it.

However, while Mark’s gospel may have ended here, or its original ending may have been lost, in this passage, we discover at least one woman, Mary Magdalene, show up at the tomb after she watched Jesus’ body be laid there. She wasn’t alone on her trip to the tomb, and from Mark’s description of this event, these women did not expect Jesus’ body to be gone, nor did they expect soldiers to be guarding the tomb.

From the details Mark shares, it would appear that these women knew that the men on Friday were rushed when getting Jesus’ body ready for the tomb, and they may have not thought Jesus’ body was prepared for burial as well as it could have been. Another idea is that they simply wanted to pay their last respects to Jesus because they didn’t have the opportunity on Friday before sunset.

Regardless of the reasoning, the last thing anyone expected was that the tomb would be empty. If the women had suspected an empty tomb, they wouldn’t have brought spices and they wouldn’t have wondered about how they were going to open the tomb to get to Jesus.

However, they arrive at the tomb, the soldiers they were not aware had been posted were gone, and the stone had been rolled away from the opening.

When reading events where angels appeared to people in the Bible, I’m always humored that the people involved are described as being afraid and the angels always seem to begin by saying “Don’t be afraid”.

However, the angel’s message to these women has a couple of interesting details.

First, in verse 6, the angel tells them, “You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him.” This messenger knows exactly why they were there, but he basically says, you’ve come to the right place, but you’re too late. It is as though this messenger knew people would be coming, and he has been commissioned to tell them what happened and to remind them that this is what Jesus had predicted.

Also, in the angel’s message to these women, he gives them a commission. In verse 7, the angel continues by telling them, “Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’”

In my mind, it is powerful that the angel singles out Peter by name. Of all the disciples who abandoned Jesus, Peter may have felt the worst because not only did he abandon Jesus, but he also had denied Jesus the three times Jesus had predicted. Singling Peter out by name gives us hope that even when we mess up and fail God, He is willing to accept us back to Him when we are willing to return. This angel-messenger doesn’t speak poorly of Peter, or Peter’s decisions. Instead, this angel’s message is given to encourage not only all the disciples, but especially Peter as well.

Mark’s last words in this passage speak to how we are prone to failing as a race. While much of the gospel record gives us numerous examples of Jesus’ disciples failing Him, here we have one example of the women who were commissioned failing the task they were challenged to do. However, the failure doesn’t last forever, since other gospels describe how the women ultimately do tell the disciples the message, and how word gets out about Jesus’ miraculous resurrection.

As we have seen in our year of podcasting through Mark’s gospel, one of Mark’s big themes is God’s love for us. Even when we fail God, He never gives up on us! If you have felt as though you have failed God, don’t give up on God because He hasn’t given up on you. Instead, return to Him, ask for forgiveness, and restart your walk with God from a place where you are a little older and a little wiser than you were before. With God, we never restart our spiritual journeys at the same place, but every restart is further ahead than the last one as we continue walking through life towards eternity.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to bring your lives, your challenges, and your heart to God and let Him use you for His glory. When life gets scary or confusing, don’t give up on God or on the mission He has placed before you. Instead, lean into God and trust that He will equip you with everything you need to fulfill the challenges He brings your way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and become more of the person God has created you to be. Grow your personal relationship with God and don’t let anyone or anything get between you and God. Pastors, authors, speakers, podcasters, or even close friends can have great things to say, but always take what you hear and see and test it against the truth of God’s Word!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

For the past several episodes, we have been focusing extra closely on the time Jesus spent on the cross. At the end of our passage for our last episode, Jesus has just finished being buried in the tomb, which was a gift from a man named Joseph who was from Arimathea. Our passage for this episode fast-forwards to resurrection morning, and John focuses in on three of Jesus’ followers. One follower was a woman, and two followers were disciples.

Let’s read our passage and discover what happened. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 20, and we will read it using the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John sets the stage by telling us:

¹ Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark. When she saw that the large stone had been moved away from the tomb, ² she ran to Simon Peter and the follower whom Jesus loved. Mary said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.”

³ So Peter and the other follower started for the tomb. ⁴ They were both running, but the other follower ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent down and looked in and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then following him, Simon Peter arrived and went into the tomb and saw the strips of linen lying there. ⁷ He also saw the cloth that had been around Jesus’ head, which was folded up and laid in a different place from the strips of linen. ⁸ Then the other follower, who had reached the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed. ⁹ (They did not yet understand from the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead.)

¹⁰ Then the followers went back home.

¹¹ But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she bent down and looked inside the tomb. ¹² She saw two angels dressed in white, sitting where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and one at the feet.

¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

She answered, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ When Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.

¹⁵ Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Did you take him away, sir? Tell me where you put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

Mary turned toward Jesus and said in the Hebrew language, “Rabboni.” (This means “Teacher.”)

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and said to the followers, “I saw the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.

Usually when reading this passage, most pastors, teaches, or speakers would have the tendency to pause and insert thoughts in the midst of this event. I thought briefly about doing that as well. However, I resisted the urge because I wanted you to get the big picture of this event before drawing our attention onto several powerful ideas.

When reading about Mary’s trip to the tomb, I don’t think I ever noticed how she left to tell the disciples without even looking into the tomb. Part of me had always imagined that she looked in the tomb to see that it was empty before running off to tell the disciples. However, according to John’s gospel, this was not the case. There is no evidence that Mary looked in the tomb before either of Jesus’ other followers who ran to the tomb that morning, at least from reading John’s version of this event. The impression I get when reading this event from John’s gospel is that Mary understood that an open tomb meant that Jesus’ body had been removed.

Also, it is worth noting that nothing in the response of Jesus’ followers suggests that they believed Jesus had not died, or that He would rise from the dead. Even with Jesus repeatedly predicting this to happen, John purposefully inserts a note in verse 9 to help us understand that: “They [referring to Jesus’ followers] did not yet understand from the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead.”

If these followers did not understand that Jesus must rise from the dead, then what does John mean when he says that he believed when He saw the empty tomb? In verse 8, John, referring to himself as the other follower who reached the tomb first says, “Then the other follower, who had reached the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed.”

Both Peter and John did not doubt that Jesus had died. I suspect that they doubted Mary’s word that the tomb was empty. While only Matthew’s gospel draws attention to the soldiers that were positioned guarding the tomb, I am certain that all the disciples were well aware that the religious leaders had made Jesus’ tomb the most secure location in that region.

When John says that he now believed, I suspect that he most likely meant that he believed Mary’s word after having seen the empty tomb for himself. Both Peter and John may have had Jesus’ words in the back of their mind about Him predicting His resurrection, but it’s one thing to remember Jesus’ prediction, and a completely different thing to believe that it actually happened.

However, verse 10, while it seems to be a simple transition statement in John’s gospel, is incredibly powerful. In verse 10, John tells us: “Then the followers [refering to himself and Peter] went back home.”

This left Mary alone by the tomb, and it was now Mary’s turn to enter the tomb. If Mary had entered the tomb before this, there wouldn’t be a reason for her to re-enter it. She would have already seen inside. There likely wouldn’t have even been a reason for her to look inside if she had already looked inside.

However, while Jesus’ two disciples had not seen any angels, Mary, perhaps because she knew nowhere else to go, was open to finding answers and she sees the angels when looking in the tomb.

Why is it significant in my mind that Jesus’ disciples left?

In my mind, I speculate that if Jesus’ disciples had stayed, either they would have then been able to experience the angels themselves, or it is possible that the angels would not have appeared to Mary. I don’t know which would have happened. Jesus’ followers left before Jesus arrived, and this is significant when we stop to think about it.

If Peter and John had stayed with Mary, they likely would have been the first people to see Jesus emerge from the tomb, with the only exception to this being the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb who were there to witness the resurrection itself.

The reason I bring this detail up is that, while we could focus in on Jesus’ message through Mary to His followers, I wonder if all too often, I am tempted to give up on something before Jesus has shown up in it.

If you have ever felt as though God had called you to do something, but that you haven’t been making any progress, there is the strong temptation to abandon it. If you have ever been pressing forward with something that is positive that you know God would want you to do, but you don’t feel God’s presence, it is very easy to let temptation win and simply abandon it.

However, what if you leave moments before Jesus arrived? What if, like Mary experienced, moments after Jesus’ followers leave, Jesus showed up? Mary wins the award for being the first follower to see Jesus because she stayed by the tomb when all the others left. In this event, would you rather be Mary, who stuck it out and stayed at the place Jesus wanted her, or be like the disciples who left to go home and missed the opportunity to see Jesus?

While all of Jesus’ followers ultimately see Jesus at various points during the following few weeks, we discover in this resurrection morning event that only Mary stayed by the tomb, and only Mary got to experience Jesus’ first appearance after He had stepped out of the tomb.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, be sure to intentionally seek God first in your life. If you’ve been struggling whether to stick with something God has called you to, or to abandon it because it doesn’t feel as though God is still with you, consider this a nudge to not abandon this calling yet. Instead, consider this a challenge to stick with it until it becomes clear that God is calling you elsewhere. It is rare for God to call someone to stop doing something without calling them to do something else at the same time. More often, God calls people to take steps of faith forward with Him, and these steps lead us closer to God and further away from sin!

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God and to grow a personal relationship with Jesus. While everyone has an opinion on the Bible, choose to prayerfully study the Bible for yourself to discover for yourself what the Bible tells us about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross! Don’t listen to people who discount the Bible because they have never read it or have only selectively quoted it from other sources. Read the Bible for yourself to discover the truth it teaches in a more personal and powerful way!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!