The Tiny Minority Who Disagreed

And yet, there were those who did take a second glance. They were the ones who flew in the face of the facts, talked about victory when only tragedy was apparent, spoke in cheerful voices when they should have been sad, smiled when they should have been weeping. Why were they different from the other 991/2 per cent? Take a look at them.

Look at these followers of Jesus immediately after their leader has been captured, convicted in a "framed" trial, and put to death. They are bewildered by the quick reversal of fortunes which they and their leader have suffered. Jesus, who had been with them at supper just a night or two ago, now lies cold and dead in a tomb. They are disillusioned. Jesus had talked of such wonderful things. He had done such wonderful things. But that was all over now. He had only been spinning out a dream. When the real pinch came he was powerless, and the dream had dissolved like a puff of smoke. You can see them getting ready to sneak out of Jerusalem and go back to their fishing nets, saying to one another, "I'll never get taken in like that again." They are frightened. They are meeting behind locked doors. Why? The reason is very simple. They were afraid. They had been seen with Jesus. Jesus had been killed. Who would be next? The Romans had plenty of crosses. Let the Committee on Un-Roman Activities look their way, and they too would be going through a "framed" trial, and death by torture.

That is what the disciples were like immediately after the death of their leader. An unpromising group of men, bewildered, disillusioned, and frightened. Nobody would expect them to amount to anything.

But they did amount to something. They very soon began to amount to a great deal. And to complete the story we must look at another picture of the same group of men. This time the canvas can't be confined to a little room with a barricaded door. It has to be wide enough so that eventually it will include the whole Roman Empire. Take another look.

Instead of being bewildered, they are immensely sure of themselves. They have been galvanized into action, and are going far and wide proclaiming what they call "good news," in temples and market places, to fish peddlers and Roman. officers. Instead of being disillusioned, they are full of confidence, and have an almost naïve joy in sharing a tremendous experience which has transformed them. Rather than walking about with leaden feet, they are filled with a mysterious power which they call holy. Instead of being frightened, they are full of an infectious courage, and are going all over the place literally shouting about the same sorts of things for which their leader had so recently been killed. The more they are told to keep quiet, on pain of death, the more gladly do they speak. In fact, they made such a dent on the people around them, that very soon their enemies (not their friends, but their enemies) were calling them "men who have turned the world upside down" ( Acts 17: 6).