On Saturday I had a text conversation with a friend about the feelings of such a dark Sabbath Saturday after the reminders of Jesus’ pain and suffering of Good Friday that the disciples might have been experiencing all those years ago on the day after Christ’s crucifixion. Here is the essence of that:
“Saturday…Sabbath Day.
“In between” Day…..Imagine the grief, confusion, disappointment, disillusionment, report of Judas’ suicide… disciples hiding out in the upper room with locked door… a quiet isolated Sabbath gave them some cover to absorb the shock.
It’s good for people to feel their feelings….even the negative ones. It will make the surprising redemptive joy all the more miraculous and awesome!
You know, I think Jesus’ tears when he came to Bethany to raise Lazarus were from seeing the degree of pain and grief Lazarus’ death had caused and knowing that he himself would be the cause of similar grief for these people he loved in another week. Could they believe he could raise himself from the dead, even after doing so for Lazarus and the little girl? Could they believe it for him? Could they believe it for themselves? Would the truth of eternal life become reality for those who had believed themselves bound by the physical limitations of this realm and bound by death itself? This was the question. Can they believe in resurrection for themselves, by the same power that raised Lazarus and that would raise Jesus himself, too?”
Today in Sunday School we read the Resurrection Sunday story from John 20. At the end our class leader invited us to find the reason why Cleopas and the other person from Emmaus told the disciples on the evening of Resurrection Sunday that “Jesus appeared to Simon.” There’s no other reference to such an encounter between Peter and Jesus in the Gospels. However, in John’s account of Jesus appearing a second time in the upper room one week after resurrection, there is also no explicit evidence that Simon Peter was present then either and then John shifts to Jesus’ third appearance to the group in Galilee that features Jesus’ public reconciliation of Simon Peter. Between the two events John inserts this disclaimer in verse 20:30-31, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John’s Gospel is not intended as a comprehensive, all-inclusive chronological account of every minute of Jesus’ ministry. None of the Gospels can be! John even goes further in making the point in verse 21:24-25,”This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” These are clues, though, that Simon Peter could have had plenty of opportunity for Jesus to have come to him separate from the others that first Easter.
Mary Magdalene went while it was still dark in the morning to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. She did not go in at that point. (Mark reports that two other women were with her.) Mary runs to Peter and John to tell them. (We aren’t told where that was, but it does not appear to have been with the other disciples. And she does tell them that the tomb is empty and says, “..and WE don’t know where to find him,” suggesting she did have others with her.) John and Peter ran to the tomb and went in, Peter first, then John. Jesus was not in the tomb. Peter observed the face cloth lying to the side and the burial clothes lying in place.
John records in 20:8-10, “Finally the other disciple, (NOTE: John is speaking of himself), who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.”
John tells that Mary Magdalene remained standing outside the tomb crying. Then she bent down and looked in the tomb, saw two angels who asked her, “Why are you crying?” She answered that the Lord’s body has been taken away and she doesn’t know where to find him. Then she turns around and faces Jesus but doesn’t recognize him. He, too, asks, “Why are you crying?” And “Who are you looking for?” Thinking he is the gardener, she asks for information on where Jesus’ body has been taken. Then he says her name and she realizes it is Jesus. He told her not to touch him, that he has not yet ascended and he sent her to go tell “my brothers” in the place they’re staying.
It’s likely still early in the day….
Mark in chapter 16 tells a more concise story….that three women went early, saw the stone was moved, went in and saw “a young man in white garments sitting inside” who told them Jesus had risen from the dead and that they were to go and tell the disciples and Peter (suggesting that Peter was not with the others. And, in fact, John 20 tells us Mary went to Peter and John. The women fled trembling and bewildered, afraid and said nothing to anyone. Then Mark tells also a shortened version of Jesus appearing to two others (likely the two on the road to Emmaus), then to the eleven disciples in the upper room, as well. References to “the eleven,” similar to references to “the twelve” may simply be a convenient way of saying to “the group of disciples” without necessarily warranting that every single one of them was present at the moment.
John gives more details of Jesus’ appearance in the upper room to the disciples (but not Thomas) that same Sunday evening, and then again a week later when Thomas is present, also. Thought even in the second appearance the next Sunday, there is no explicit evidence that Peter is there.
Matthew, in chapter 28 also tells a more compressed story. The two Marys go to the tomb early, experience an earthquake, an angel in white moves the stone and is sitting on it. The guards fall down in fear as if dead. The angel tells them Jesus is risen, to look in and see, that Jesus will go before them to Galilee, and to go tell the others. Then the two Marys encounter Jesus, they clasp his feet and worship him.He tells them to go “tell my brothers to go to Galilee and I will see them there.” Matthew then moves quickly to the guards being bribed to say Jesus’ disciples stole the body and then to Jesus meeting the disciples in Galilee and to issuing the Great Commission.
In Luke 24 we read his story of three women going to the tomb- Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Joanna- and later refers to other women being with them. They found the tomb open. While standing there confused, two men in brilliant clothing appeared and they fell on their faces. The men said,“Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” They returned to tell the eleven who didn’t believe them. But Peter ran to see for himself and went HOME (to Galilee, instead of back to the upper room?) marveling at what happened.
Luke then gives a longer version of the appearance to the two on the Emmaus road. These two ran back to the upper room and told the disciples present there, including a report that Jesus had appeared to Simon. But no specific reference was made of Simon Peter being there with them, suggesting, as Luke’s text indicates, that Simon Peter had actually gone back home to Galilee after seeing the empty tomb, instead of going back to the upper room after realizing Christ was alive, perhaps grieving over having denied him. In Matthew’s text Jesus told Mary to tell the disciples to go to Galilee. It appears from the report of Cleopas that first night that Simon Peter might well have already left to go to Galilee after going to the tomb that first morning and finding that, though the burial clothes were there, Jesus Christ wasn’t.
The time between Peter running to the tomb in the morning, realizing the truth of Jesus’ words and heading to Galilee and the time of the two from Emmaus running back to Jerusalem late in the day after having supper with Jesus seven miles away to report leaves plenty of time for Jesus to have appeared to Peter along the way. Cleopas and his companion who had supper with Jesus had to have heard it from Jesus or, alternately, they encountered Simon on his way out of town as they were coming in. Additionally in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul listed Cephas (Simon Peter) as the first to whom Christ appeared. The cultural tradition forbade women from being legal witnesses. The report of Cleopas doesn’t name the other person from Emmaus, giving support for the belief that his wife might have been the person with him who walked with and hosted Jesus Christ for supper.
Concerning tears, the angels at the tomb and also Jesus, when seeing Mary Magdalene crying asked her, “Why are you crying?” Why would the mind-blowing turn of events, brutal crucifixion of their beloved Rabbi, and now a robbed grave NOT be enough to cause tears! From the perspective of the angels and the risen Christ, the facts of Jesus’ words to them about his death and resurrection, raising Lazarus, and the obvious facts of the current Sunday circumstances ought to be enough to prove the truth of Jesus’ identity and present resurrection….. but she, like the others, was caught in emotions of grief instead of leaning into the fulfilled promises. Only when they saw him did they begin to grasp what he’d been saying. Jesus did not want to cause them pain, he wanted to remove pain. Jesus had pointed them to the faith of the centurion, the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman in Tyre, numerous other miracles, they had heard Peter’s Spirit-revealed declaration of Jesus’ true identity, and the three closest disciples had been shown the revelation of his glory at the Mount of Transfiguratuon. How much more would it take? It would take seeing the resurrected Christ in the flesh. To see the resurrected Christ, they’d had to see him die. Perhaps for we who were not present to witness the resurrected Jesus, to see and know Him now, we must feel the pain of knowing our sin was the reason for His death.
Cathy Byrd. 4/20/25