(from last time)
Just as they were about to catch up to Peter and John, they saw Peter and John go into a house and slam to the door behind them! They heard to noise of the door being locked! The bicycle/time machine ran right into the door! The Professor said, “Ooops!” The door did not open. Shane pounded on the door, but no one would open the door and let them in. Shelly said, “This is in the Bible too! They are so scared that the soldiers will come and get them that they locked themselves into the house they will not open the door because they are scared! We will have to wait to see what happens next!”
So, they got off the bicycle/time machine and sat down outside the house and….
They sat there, and they sat there, and they sat there, and they sat there! All Friday night, all Saturday, and all Saturday night!
Then it happened! Early Sunday morning, just after it had gotten light, they heard running feet! Two women came running up the road! They were yelling and screaming for Peter and John. They got to the house and pounded on the door! They yelled, “It happened! Angel at tomb… fainting soldiers… no stone… no Jesus… the message… saw Jesus!” They were laughing, crying, screaming, and did not make a lot of sense! Finally, they calmed down enough to say that Jesus had risen from the dead!
Peter and John took off running! They wanted to see if this was true! The Professor, Shane, Shelly, and the kitten jumped on the bicycle/time machine and took off after Peter and John. Shane yelled, “It’s a race! Let’s see if we can catch them!” They went screaming through the streets of Jerusalem, weaving around people and donkeys! The Professor missed one corner and went right through someone’s wet laundry that they had just hung outside on the clothesline! The Professor said, “Ooops!” A robe came off the clothesline got wrapped around Shane and Shelly’s heads. As they struggled to get the robe off their heads, they kept pedaling and they were gaining on Peter! They caught up with Peter just as they were going out the gate of the city. Peter huffing and puffing like mosquito with asthma! John was still up ahead, and he was running as fast as he could! Just as the bicycle/time machine was about to pass John, he made a sharp left turn and stopped at the tomb of Jesus. The Professor skidded the bicycle/time machine into a hard left turn and ran right into the stone wall of the tomb! The Professor said, “Ooops!” Shane, Shelly, and the kitten went flying off the bicycle! Shane and Shelly landed in some bushes; the kitten landed on top of John’s head! John was peeking into the tomb when suddenly they head pounding footsteps behind them, and then heard Peter yelling, “Help! I can’t stop!” Peter came down the path totally out of control and slid right past John, the Professor, Shane, and Shelly and slid right into the tomb! John followed Peter into the tomb, and they saw that the only thing in there was the pieces of cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body. Jesus was not there! John yelled, “Jesus really did rise from the dead, I believe it!” Peter asked, “John, why do you have a kitten on your head?” The Professor said, “Ooops!” Peter and John went back to tell the good news to the other disciples.
The Professor, Shane, and Shelly began to follow Peter and John (the kitten was still on John’s head), but the Professor made a wrong turn and got lost. The Professor said, “Ooops!” Later that day they were still lost, and they were on a road going out into the country. Ahead in the distance they saw two men walking. Shelly said, “Let’s ask those men how to get back to that house in Jerusalem.” Just before they caught up with the two men, another man caught up with them. The third man asked the first two men why they looked so sad and confused. The first two men did look very sad and confused, they were walking along staring at the ground in front of them. They did not even look at the third man. Shane whispered to Shelly, “That third man looks like Jesus!” Shelly whispered back, “It is Jesus, this is in the Bible too. Let’s listen to this.”
The two men told Jesus all about how Jesus had been killed on a cross three days ago, and now some of their friends were saying that Jesus had risen from the dead and was alive! They never looked up, and still did not realize that they were talking to Jesus! Jesus explained from the Bible that the Son of God had to be killed to pay for the sins of all people, and that the Bible said that He would rise from the dead after three days. The two men still did not look up and still did not know that it was Jesus Himself who was talking to them. After awhile they all stopped for some food, when Jesus prayed and gave thanks for the food, the men realized that it was Jesus Himself! They were so excited that they wanted to ask Jesus all about what had happened, but suddenly… Jesus was not there! He was gone! The two men yelled, “We’ve got to tell the other disciples about this!” They began running back to Jerusalem! The Professor, Shane, and Shelly began to pedal back to Jerusalem as fast as they could! They wanted to tell the disciples about seeing Jesus too!
When they got to Jerusalem, they followed the two men right to the house where the disciples had been hiding. They had never heard so much yelling and excitement! The disciples yelled to the two men, “You just missed it! Jesus was just here, and He just left!” The two men yelled back, “You missed it, Jesus was with us as we were walking along the road, He talked with us the whole way to Emmaus!” There was never so much excitement! Jesus was really alive! He had risen from the dead three days after He was killed! It had happened just like He had said it would happen!
The kitten jumped off John’s head and landed on the bicycle/time machine, one of her back legs hit the handle on the side of the bicycle/time machine and it spun around. Shane yelled above all the excited voices, “Let’s go out into Jerusalem and tell everyone the good news about Jesus rising from the dead!” So, they began pedaling around the city. Ahead they could see a group of people and Shane said, “Let’s go tell those people!” As they were pedaling up to that group of people, the kitten jumped onto the Professor’s head. The Professor said, “Ooops!” He accidentally shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly the City of Jerusalem disappeared and….
Application:
Read the story of Peter and John going to the empty tomb, it is found in the Bible in the book of John chapter 20 verses 1-9.
Read the story of the disciples talking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, it is found in the Bible in the book of Luke chapter 24 verses 13-35
Jesus promised that He would rise from the dead three days after He died on the cross for our sins. Jesus kept that promise, He did rise from the dead and He is alive forever! These two stories from the Bible tell us that Jesus had a real body after He rose from the dead, and His friends saw Him and talked with Him! Jesus is alive and will never die again!
Jesus also promised that if we believe in Him and accept His forgiveness, He will give us eternal life. This means that when this life is over, we will be with God forever. We will also have a new body like the body that Jesus had after He rose from the dead.