Seven Days with the Risen Christ. Seven Days, #5

Jesus told his disciples he would be crucified, but he also said he would rise again on the third day. Nevertheless, when the soldiers arrested Jesus, the disciples fled. Jesus died and was buried and everyone thought that was the end. It seemed only the enemies of Jesus remembered his words. They ran to Pilate and said, "Make the tomb secure. His followers might come, steal his body and claim he rose from the dead." So Pilate sealed the tomb and set a 24-hour guard.
On the first day of the week an angel came and rolled back the stone revealing an empty tomb to the soldiers. Only the linen which had wrapped Jesus' body remained. The shocked soldiers fell down as dead men. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and wept because she thought someone had taken Jesus' body. Peter and John came, too. Peter saw the grave clothes and wondered. John saw the same evidence and believed.
During the next forty days, Jesus appeared to his disciples and other believers in various places and at different times. Some were frightened, others thought he was an apparition. Still others believed he had indeed risen from the dead and they worshiped him. They risked their lives to tell the world that Jesus' resurrection proved Jesus was who he claimed to be - the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.