Easter Tuesday, April 2: “Victory over Unbelief”

Mark 16: 14: “Afterward [Jesus] appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

Peter … John … each of the other nine apostles … all had heard Jesus say He would be killed, then rise again on the third day. They did not believe. Even when half of His word had been fulfilled, and they had the testimony of Mary Magdalene, then Cleopas and Simon, that they had seen Him alive, their unbelief remained. Only after seeing Him face to face did they believe. Then He appeared to witnesses chosen beforehand (Acts 10: 41), a number exceeding five hundred (1 Corinthians 15: 6), and they were believed. Today we who have not seen the risen Lord personally have an even more extensive testimony: the witness of the Church, two millennia and billions of believers strong, all with the same proclamation: Jesus is alive! Through that witness, we have victory over unbelief.