There’s room for you, too!
If you’ve been peeping into the Kingdom of God, it’s time to step through the door, writes Eric Gaudion
Peter and John raced to the garden tomb where Jesus had been placed three days earlier. A group of women had reported to them that his body was no longer there. They even claimed that he had risen from the dead! If that were true, then everything in their lives ‒ and in ours ‒ must change. They had to find out more.
By his own account John outran Peter, arriving first. But he did not go in. Instead, he lingered at the tomb entrance, peeping in while the impetuous Peter rushed past him. Standing on the very doorstep of the greatest discovery in the history of humanity, John hesitated. For reasons of his own, the one who called himself ‘the other disciple’ held back, and I began to wonder why he did so, especially while his friend hurtled headlong into the phenomenon that was the resurrection.
John was close to Jesus, one of the inner team of three, along with Peter and James. He had the experience of seeing God’s glory shine through Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He knew that Jesus loved him – he was the one who leaned in close to the Saviour at the last supper, perhaps even resting his head on the Lord’s chest. Yet, at the entrance to the empty tomb, faced with the greatest miracle the world will ever know, he hesitated and held back.
In those few moments of hesitation, did John realise the implications? He knew that if the report by the women was true then his life would never be the same again. If Jesus had risen from the dead as he had said he would, it would amount to the Father’s clear signal that Jesus is the powerful Son of God who has conquered death and reigns as Lord of all (Romans 1:4). Perhaps it was for this reason he paused to consider the implications. And shouldn’t we do the same this Easter time?
John hesitated to commit while Peter rushed on in ahead of him. Perhaps we all do something similar on occasions. John was thinking through what the outcome of all this might be. He may have realised that if he committed and went in, he faced the possibility of ridicule by his friends, and his family too. There would be a price to pay, even persecution by those who might claim he was mad. But, above all that, he realised that if Christ had in fact overcome death, then he and the other disciples were about to enter the most marvellous, mystical, and momentous truth ‒ they too might live for ever!
So, with trembling heart and small steps into the dark, the ‘other disciple’ went in and became the Apostle John.
Much later, and in circumstances he would never have chosen, John found himself on the prison island of Patmos, where he wrote these words: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades,’” (Revelation 1:17-18).
Perhaps you are just peeping into the Kingdom of God today. Maybe you’re on your annual visit to church for Easter, or watching a service by livestream but holding back personally. I encourage you to go right on in, and become in a very real sense ‘another disciple’ too.
There was room in that tomb for the one who grasped it straight away, but also for the one who hesitated, took his time, and then still entered in. And there’s room for you too.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.