It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Luke 24:10-11

Even after the women went to Jesus’ empty tomb, spoke with angels and Jesus, when they first told the disciples, the disciples did not believe. Why and what can we learn from this?

First, as stated in an earlier post, in that day and culture, women were not considered credible witnesses. They could not testify in court. Though I would agree that it is wrong to reject a woman’s testimony because she is a woman, they lived in another time, place, and culture. That doesn’t make wrong right, but we dare not adopt a superior attitude and dismiss them as primitive or ignorant. They only knew what they knew.

Second, the disciples didn’t readily believe the reports regarding Christ’s resurrection because people do not rise from the dead! You and I would have a hard time believing that someone we knew to have died, rose from the dead, and so did they.

Third, let us be humbly thankful that the Lord overcame our unbelief with the gifts of faith and repentance (Ephesians 2:8 and Acts 11:18). Left to ourselves, we would have died in our unbelief. “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Last, let us not despair that certain loved ones do not believe. While they may persist in unbelief, God may be pleased to regenerate them, giving them saving faith someday. Keep praying for them. After all, even the disciples didn’t believe immediately when Jesus rose from the dead.

Errol