Lots of emotions need lots of time

When something happens that is really serious, our emotions go into overdrive - people don’t know what they think or feel. It is really a case of overload, and that is why under stress some people will become ill. Their system simply can’t cope with the amount of maybe conflicting emotions they are experiencing.
That kind of situation is what we hear about in the Gospel record of what happened at Easter. Let me just remind you of the emotions we are told they were experiencing when Jesus suddenly appeared in  the room where the disciples were talking things over. We are told they were startled and terrified. They were frightened and full of doubts. They were joyful and yet disbelieving and wondering.  That is quite a list of powerful feelings. And it isn’t surprising that it was so. What is fascinating is that long, long after the event, when they came to write down what had happened, they could recapture and record that overwhelming battering they were experiencing. It was one of those moments which was so imprinted on them that they could not only recall the facts, but also the feelings in great detail. It seems to me to be one of the authenticating things about the gospel writers that they enable us to enter into those powerful reactions.
Another thing which also authenticates it is what happened afterwards. We hear that Jesus led them outside - in fact so that he could leave them physically for the last time - but doesn’t that speak to you also of that reaction we have all had in times of stress - ‘I must get some fresh air’? And then, although Luke finishes his gospel at that point, we gather from his sequel - the Acts of the Apostles, that they then needed time to assimilate it all before they could share it with the world. They needed time to let those emotions settle. They couldn’t go on being joyful and fearful and doubting and startled. They had to process what had happened, not only intellectually - a problem enough when someone rising from the dead faces you - but also emotionally as well. They had to find the real confidence and joy in the risen Lord. To find that confidence needed time. That is why we have all these weeks of Easter each year - to give us time to take it in - intellectually and emotionally.

 Andrew Body