Luke 24:33-34 “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’”
That first realisation of Jesus’ resurrection did not bring celebration. His abrupt appearance among the disciples sparked terror, not worship. Their first conclusion was that they were seeing a ghost.
Jesus had to calm them (Peace be with you), correct them (Touch me and see, a ghost does not have flesh and blood as you see I have) and convince them (Do you have anything here to eat?). Finally they understood, “It is true! The Lord has risen…”
Those in that upper room were never the same again. Their lives changed beyond all recognition. Within a few short years many of them would be scattered across the Middle East, passionately proclaiming what they had seen and heard. They would be persecuted. Some would lose their lives. But they could never deny what they had seen and heard and experienced and encountered. To their dying breath, each one declared, “It is true! The Lord has risen.”
It is our privilege as a College community to continue to live in the light of Easter and to testify, “It is true! The Lord has risen.”