by Perry Hall<\/p>\n
The angel sitting on the rock he rolled away from Jesus’s empty tomb had a message for the women to deliver to the apostles:<\/p>\n
“Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there. Listen, I have told you’<\/em>” (Matthew 28:7 CSB’17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So important was this message it is repeated again just a little later:<\/p>\n
“Then Jesus told them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there’<\/em>” (Matthew 28:10 CSB’17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Why? What is the reason Jesus wants to meet his apostles in Galilee?<\/p>\n
Since the text does not tell us other than Jesus had already planned this (Mark 16:7), we have to infer. I’ll let you decide whether my inference is valid.<\/p>\n
Do you remember where Jesus met these strangers and called them to follow him? Galilee. I surmise Jesus is reminding the apostles, who had failed to believe in Jesus’s resurrection, to go back to the beginning.<\/p>\n
They just spent three years with him gathering evidence of who he was. Yet, they seemingly had more faith at the beginning than at the end. In the beginning, they left everything and followed Jesus. Now they think Jesus has left them. They need to go back to the beginning. They need to go back to Galilee.<\/p>\n
Have you lost all your faith? Go back to your Galilee. Go back to the time before your hurt. People don’t lose faith easily unless they want to live a life unmonitored by their conscience. Whether prodigal living or pain and suffering caused your loss, remember the empty tomb follows the cross of shame, pain, and suffering. Remember the cross is where Jesus saved a very unholy man dying beside him. Those times of faith are your Galilee.<\/p>\n
Have you lost most of your zeal? Go back to your Galilee. Do you remember the sadness over your sins, the fear of being lost, the love of wanting fellowship with God, and the freedom you sought from your shame and guilt, all experienced in your baptism? Maybe there was another time you need to remember where you stood strong in the Lord. Those times of faith are your Galilee.<\/p>\n
If ever you were once stronger than you are today, here’s my advice. Go back to your Galilee. Go back to your beginning. Jesus will meet you there.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Perry Hall The angel sitting on the rock he rolled away from Jesus’s empty tomb had a message for the women to deliver to the apostles: “Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,635],"class_list":["post-57383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-zeal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3632,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-matthew-2819-a-part-of-the-setting-up-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":57383,"position":0},"title":"Is Matthew 28:19 a part of the setting up of the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am concerned about baptism. I have found that all of the Bible corresponds with Acts 2:38\u00a0from the prophets until the Spirit came upon the apostles. What I do not find is\u00a0Matthew 28:19\u00a0having a part in the setting up of the church at Jerusalem. The prophets Isaiah and Micah\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2754,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/matthew-2819-cannot-refer-to-a-christians-baptism-because-it-was-given-in-the-wrong-place-and-at-the-wrong-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":57383,"position":1},"title":"Matthew 28:19 cannot refer to a Christian’s baptism because it was given in the wrong place and at the wrong time.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Here is my proof for not baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Isaiah 2: 2-3, The word of the Lord that goeth forth from Jerusalem will build the house of the God of Jacob. I do not find Galilee as the city chosen of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56273,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-folly-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":57383,"position":2},"title":"The “Folly” of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry This was not the expected script. The time, of course, was right. Four grand empires had been prophesied (cf. Daniel 2, 7); Babylon and Medo-Persia were long gone, the age of the Greeks was over, and Rome was now in power. He was supposed to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5414,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-were-the-apostles-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":57383,"position":3},"title":"Where were the apostles from?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where were Jesus' apostles from? Were they Jewish before the Jesus met them? Answer: Judaism is both a religion and a nationality. All twelve of the apostles were born in Israel and were Jewish by both descent and by religious practice. All twelve ate the Passover meal with Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33385,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-that-salome-was-james-and-johns-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":57383,"position":4},"title":"Where does it say that Salome was James and John’s mother?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where does it say that Salome was James and John's mother? Answer: \"And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons\" (Matthew 27:55-56).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9359,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-gospels-contradict-each-other-regarding-jesus-empty-tomb\/","url_meta":{"origin":57383,"position":5},"title":"Do the gospels contradict each other regarding Jesus’ empty tomb?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian but my friend has pointed out several contradictions in the Bible I when the women went to the tomb of Jesus I was hoping you could help me to resolve: Matthew - Earthquake with an angel sitting outside on the recently moved stone; Mark -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}