It’s hard to believe.
Only a short while ago the disciples were locking themselves away because they were scared out of their minds that they were going to be the next ones executed. Before that they’d run away, and Peter, always so sure of himself, had denied that he even knew Jesus.
Now that same Peter is standing up in front of the same people that had terrified him and telling them they were responsible for killing the descendent of King David (Acts 2:14, 22-33). Speaking for all those pathetic, feeble, disciples he makes the incredible claim: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.”
What had happened? Yes, Jesus had risen from the dead, but those disciples had changed beyond recognition. How did Jesus’ rising cause that transformation?
There isn’t one single answer to that question. It happened in different ways for different people. Last week we heard of Thomas arriving late to the party in the locked room. Today we hear of some disciples that were heading away from Jerusalem, clearly not believing the absurd story of some women who said he was alive (Luke 24:13-35). Whatever the particular circumstances the results were dramatic. Peter explains it in a letter to others who had also been changed by accepting the reality of Jesus’ resurrection: “you believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:17-21) Recognizing and accepting that Jesus was still with them, despite the fact that he had died – that’s what changed them completely – they were different people, they were “a new creation”, as Paul liked to phrase it.
So what changed? Their faith and hope were now in God. Before that their faith and hope had been in themselves, or maybe in someone else, some great leader, a messiah even. But that faith was misplaced, and the hope was certainly disappointed. Now Jesus was alive again they realized he was not just another man, however wonderful and inspiring, but that he was one with the God who had put him on earth with them. “God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it” as Peter told those crowds he was no longer afraid of.
We can put our faith in many things – great leaders, science, our family, our nation. But all of those are temporary, fallible, of this world. What God shows us, through Jesus, is that there is more to life than this world. When we accept that and put our faith and hope in God then we are no longer bound to this world, then we are freed from fear, then anything is possible – just as it was for those disciples.