All seemed lost as Jesus was buried in a tomb following his crucifixion. One of his most faithful followers, Peter, was overtaken by remorse, because he had denied being a disciple of Jesus. Three times! Another of his loved followers, Mary Magdalene, openly wept at his tomb. And two others, talking with a stranger, painted a bleak picture of what had happened. They mourned not just the loss of Jesus, but the loss of what his life had promised for the future.
Yet those hopeless scenarios weren’t quite what they seemed. On the surface, they signaled the curtain falling on the nascent group of Jesus’ followers. In fact, they were harbingers of a deeper practice and wider sharing of his teachings.
Jesus had risen. He was the stranger talking with those men. He assuaged Mary’s sorrow by appearing to her alive by the empty tomb. And he gifted Peter three opportunities to reverse his fearful denials with as many bold declarations of how he loved Jesus (see John 21:15–17).
