OVER SEVERAL DECADES OF TEACHING BIBLICAL STUDIES at the college level, I have been continually touched by the Easter story. The gospel narrative is very dramatic, moving from the noisy adulation of Christ Jesus' entry into Jerusalem to his anguish at Gethsemane, from a tortured execution to a quiet, triumphant appearance to his disciples on Easter morning. For us today, the chapters in the story are clearly set forth and quite familiar. But that was not always the case.
As I often remind students, there once was a time when people did not know how the story would turn out. The disciples had lived in close association with Jesus and had received instruction from him many times. He tried to prepare them for what was to come; the Gospels contain statements he made beforehand about his martyrdom and his resurrection. But who took him seriously? Even today, there are those in the scholarly community and elsewhere who suggest that these words were added later to perpetuate the claim of the early Christian community that he had indeed risen from the dead "as he said." Matt. 28:6.
When the disciples watched his arrest, or fled in the presence of the Roman soldiers, did any of them think, "In 48 hours, this will all be resolved"? Even Peter turned to violence he might not have considered had he only believed what Jesus had told them. He defended his teacher in a way that seemed appropriate humanly; but because his motives flowed from brute strength rather than confidence in divine power, that defense soon folded. A few hours later, he denied association with his teacher and, like most of the others had done already, he ran away.
