Jesus | a 4-Day Skate Church Movement Devotionalনমুনা

Jesus’ death and resurrection

“They told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he replied, ‘I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” John 20:25

In the skateboarding world, there are certain skate spots that have elevated themselves to legendary status. If I mention places like Hollywood High, Love Park, Wallenberg, or El Toro, you can immediately recall specific tricks that have been thrown down and even who did each trick. We know of all these tricks because we have either seen the clips in videos or we have seen the iconic photos in skate mags. These skaters were pioneers for a lot of us, showing us that the impossible was actually possible! But what if we didn’t have the photos or any clips? What if all we had was someone’s word of the crazy tricks going down at these spots? Would you believe them?

A common saying I’ve heard in the skate community is, “without footage, it’s fiction.” And a common thing I hear about faith and the life of Jesus is, “I need to see it to believe it.” It’s easy to ask the question, “Was Jesus really who He said He was, or was He just an ordinary guy?” For our answers to all those questions, we need only to check out the stories of Jesus’ death and resurrection in the Bible.

Jesus lived a perfect life, preached about the Kingdom of God, healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, loved the unlovable…the list goes on. He even prophesied His death, claiming that He would rise from the dead three days later. That’s a pretty bold claim for someone who was already claiming to be the Son of God! Eventually, the time came when Jesus was nailed to a cross, died, and was buried in a tomb. When this happened, all of Jesus’ disciples went back to their normal lives, discouraged that the man they’ve been following for three years was no longer with them. Then, three days later, the unthinkable happened. Some people went to the tomb where Jesus was buried and discovered the tomb was empty! Jesus literally rose from the dead! But again, was there evidence? Was there proof? Yes!

After this happens, Jesus physically shows up to His disciples while one of His disciples (Thomas) wasn’t around. When Thomas returns to his friends, they tell him, “We’ve seen Jesus!” But just like we are skeptical when we hear our buddies tell us about tricks they’ve done that we didn't see, Thomas doubts their claims and ignores them. Then Jesus shows up again; this time, Jesus invites Thomas to see for himself that He is alive and well. Jesus met Thomas in his doubt, showing him the holes in His hands and side, and finally Thomas believed.

It doesn’t stop at Thomas and the disciples either. 1 Corinthians 15:6 says that after Jesus appeared to the 12, “He was seen by more than 500 of His followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.” What Paul is saying here is that if you don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead, there were plenty of witnesses who could testify to this claim. It wasn’t only for one day either. Acts 1:3 tells us Jesus “appeared to them over a period of forty days.” So crazy!

Think about it: If Jesus never rose from the dead, He would have just been a nice guy who did some crazy miracles and that was it. If He had never come back, these disciples would have never died for their faith and we would have no reason to believe in Jesus! There would be no Christianity if He didn’t live out His wildest of claims: raising Himself from the dead…which He did.

pushing further

1. Have you seen enough to fully believe?
2. If not, what will it take to make you believe?