By Dr. Jeff Mathis
What happened after the resurrection of Jesus?
Well, it’s a mixed bag. Much of the Gospel focuses on Jesus’s encounters with his closest followers. Depending on the version of the story you consult, he first appears to Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, and commissions them to become the first missionaries by sharing the good news with his disciples.
Luke employs a scene change that locates our attention on a road out of Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. Jesus, as we recall, comes up alongside two of his followers who are retreating from Jerusalem even though they have heard the reports from the women. And who is this mystery sojourner? Jesus’ identity is withheld from his fellow travelers until they have table fellowship later that evening. And then, Jesus appears to his disciples who are hiding behind locked doors in Jerusalem and offers them a peace that feels a lot like reconciliation.
According to the Bible, these events occur on the same day that Jesus is resurrected from the dead. All of this happens on Easter Sunday.
Now, the Gospel According to John will reveal a bit more about what happens next. Fast-forward one week from Easter Sunday, and we find the disciples still huddled together in an upper room. Thomas, who is unfairly labeled as a doubter by Church tradition, has a one-on-one encounter with Jesus. And then, cryptically, we receive this statement from John as the episode fades to black:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.” (John 20:30)
The end, right? Well, kind of.
In what feels like an epilogue, John reveals that he has one more story to tell. “After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.” (John 21:1) It’s the story of the disciples who have returned to the Sea of Galilee as fishermen. To be clear, it’s a curious story in light of what is written elsewhere. Unlike Luke’s Gospel, where Jesus commands his followers to remain in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit, here in John’s Gospel, Jesus’s disciples have retreated to their home base.
One can hardly blame them. Who among us wouldn’t crave the familiar after all that the disciples had seen, heard, and experienced in the previous years?
John’s story is a landmark moment, of course. Jesus cooks his disciples breakfast. He offers Peter reconciliation for his denial in the wee hours of Good Friday. There’s a miracle, forgiveness, and a commissioning.
Beyond these threads, our understanding of what happened after Jesus’s resurrection is limited until his ascension is described in Luke and Mark. John tries to fill in the gaps with one final attempt to broaden the narrative, saying: “There are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25) Luke, in the sequel to his Gospel, says this in the Acts of the Apostles: “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)
There it is—the reference to 40 days. According to Luke, there were 40 days between Jesus’s resurrection and his ascension. Several days later, the disciples would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that is, the holiday that is 50 days after Passover.
40 Days. Biblically, 40 Days serves as a placeholder to describe a season of significance. ‘40 Days’ is referenced in no fewer than a dozen places in the scriptures, including mentions in the Flood narrative and Moses’ time on Mount Sinai, the time that the spies were in Canaan, and Jesus’s time on the mountain being tempted by Satan.
Scholars have speculated that the ‘40 Days’ reference could mean, well, 40 24-hour days. Others have granted it may mean a period of significance greater than any particular number of days.
For me, I like that Luke describes the season of Easter as being 40 Days. We know that neither the resurrection nor the ascension is the end of the story. In truth, we know little about the specifics of the 40 Days between Jesus’s resurrection and ascension into heaven. But the remainder of the New Testament teaches us that the ‘40 Days’ of Easter serve as a period of transition from God being with us in person to God being with us in Spirit.
The bottom line? Transitions are important. We all need time to adjust. Sometimes, while we move from one reality to another, we get it wrong. We retreat to what is familiar and safe like Peter, and his fellow fishermen did. At other times, we hold up in our rooms, scared of what may be outside. But at our best, our seasons of ‘40 Days’ can provide us with a bridge to something new.
Jesus’s words sound uniquely positioned for us to hear right now.
“Don’t go far from where you are. God will give you what you need. And when you receive God’s gift, get ready to move because you’re just getting started. Soon you will find yourself on the other side of all this and ready to move on to Judea, Samaria, Europe, Africa, America, Mississippi, New England, Tuckasegee, Scotts Creek, and to the very ends of the earth.”