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What happened to the disciples following Jesus' resurrection? · Centrally Speaking

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Centrally speaking, is the Central Twitcheller Church's podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: It speaks about issues that would be of interest to our society.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: In particular, it addresses how a Christian worldview intersects with Western secular culture.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: In the spirit of the church's founder, we take the perspective of the middle way, which is in agreement with the historic Christian Church.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: I am Reverend Dr.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: David McKinley, Senior Minister at the Church.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Our website is www.csdfamily.org.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm joined today by my good friend Dr.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Drake Williams, who's the Minister of Mission and Theology.
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  SPEAKER_02: He also holds a PhD from New Testament from University of Aberdeen and has taught New Testament in academic settings for the last 20 years.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: He is also Associate Professor of New Testament at ETF in Louven, Belgium.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Drake, welcome today.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to be with you.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Today we're going to address the topic of what happened after Jesus' death.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: And since we're at Easter time when the church is thinking about Jesus and his resurrection, we wanted to ask what took place afterwards, specifically with his disciples.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: So as we explore this topic, I understand that you've been involved in a webinar and we're both in ministry.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, we read the Bible where obviously Jesus is declared to have been raised from the dead.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: It occurs in all four Gospels of the New Testament.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: For this to be declared in each of the biographies of Jesus is a very significant thing, would you think?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Very much so.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Can you share with us what Jesus' disciples were like before they met him?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if we're going to talk about uh Jesus' disciples and uh how they're changed and uh how they've been transformed, we ought to start with uh who they were originally.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um they were all Jewish uh to begin with.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um they some of them were followers of uh John the Baptist, uh some of them were uh fishermen, so common workers, uh those who worked uh hard out in the sun or on the sea.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um then we did have uh among the disciples, uh, we do have uh a tax collector, um Matthew, um who was uh obviously in league with the Roman government, um uh so that was a different profession, obviously, than uh a tax collector.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have someone like uh Simon Zilades, uh, who is uh uh more of a radical uh uh Jewish uh uh supporter.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So they're very diverse uh politically, uh they're somewhat uh diverse uh occupationally, uh, but they're all Jewish uh and they were uh hoping uh to find uh the Messiah.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting, even the diversity among them.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: How long did they know Jesus and how familiar were they with him?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's important to know because uh when uh the disciples uh are are selected, uh they they know Jesus uh essentially from the time of uh his baptism uh with John, and then uh they know him all the way through uh the time of the resurrection uh and his ascension.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about uh three years or so.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: And just to add on, when they select uh uh a disciple to replace Judas Iscariot, uh who was uh the the traitor, uh they are specifically looking for somebody who has been with uh Jesus for uh those three years, and you can find that in Acts chapter one.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now, so that all the disciples were with him almost three years.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: How were the disciples acting the night before Jesus was crucified, and specifically Peter?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you can see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four canonical gospels, that the that Jesus makes a big point about celebrating a Passover meal with them.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the disciples had seen Jesus uh come into Jerusalem, and uh they uh obviously had seen the palms before him and uh the uh connotations of here was an on uh incoming king, um, and they were thinking that Jesus was that king.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: But as the week went on, uh things turned against uh Jesus.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: They could see that at the temple and the way that the the scribes and the Pharisees were uh going back and forth uh with uh with uh Jesus.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then on that uh evening uh before he was crucified, they knew that something special was happening, for he wanted to celebrate uh the Passover uh with them.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: That night uh Jesus did uh uh speak about uh his betrayal and uh who uh might be the betrayer.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So they're they're on edge.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh they went out afterwards to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, and uh Jesus was uh praying and drops of blood was coming uh were coming from his head.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Peter then followed on uh after the guards had come to take uh Jesus away, and they uh Peter d ended up uh denying uh Jesus three times uh that evening that he ever knew uh Jesus, um let alone had ever seen uh him.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so Peter was not in a good spot uh that night, uh uh very upset, uh uh very uh distraught uh that his friend, and who he thought uh uh was the Messiah um was uh uh being um on his way to his death.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Did any of the disciples witness Jesus being crucified?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all of them would have known.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh the Gospel of John does uh record that uh uh that John, the beloved disciple, was there present uh while uh Jesus was on the cross.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, he saw.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then probably the most shocking to them is witnessing his resurrection.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um we know that they claimed to see Jesus rise from the dead.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: What did they do afterwards?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of impact did that have on them?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, it had a great uh impact on them because the night before that they uh that Jesus was crucified, uh, they were all scared uh and they knew that uh something uh awful was about to happen.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: But about uh a week or so uh after uh Jesus had been raised, uh we see uh Peter, who had denied Jesus uh three times, uh giving a tremendous uh speech uh in Jerusalem, with all the people around who had uh watched uh Jesus be crucified uh just um uh about a week or so uh earlier.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Peter gives a tremendous speech.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually uh we find the disciples uh uh giving great sacrifice uh for their lives and traveling all throughout uh the Roman Empire.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Speaking of their extended ministry after Jesus' resurrection, uh tell us about Peter's ministry and John's ministry.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Peter gave a great speech uh on Pentecost, um uh but then uh he would go on to uh share uh the good news, uh particularly in Jerusalem.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: He had been uh tossed in prison uh several times uh for this, uh, but then he would continue on with uh his uh his preaching and teaching ministry.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we know that he went on to travel to uh places in uh Asia Minor as well as uh into Corinth uh and then on to Rome, all uh about uh sharing uh that uh Jesus not only had been crucified, but had been raised and had ascended on high.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um thinking of Peter uh especially, I mean Peter uh would uh then uh give his life uh for uh his Lord.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we have in early Christian literature um uh that uh Peter was uh crucified, uh upset upside down uh because he did not feel worthy to be to have the same death uh as his Lord.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So he he goes from somebody uh who is uh very, very scared uh to somebody who is willing to uh travel the world uh to talk about uh his friend and his savior, uh Jesus Christ.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: And what about John?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, John's interesting too.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for uh uh John uh would uh uh also go on to do many things with Peter.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's Peter and John who are uh together in much of the early part uh of Acts.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we find John in prison, uh we find uh John uh um uh sharing the good news in several places.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um but then he makes his way on to uh Asia Minor in Ephesus, uh where he uh blesses uh the church uh there.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he will eventually uh uh Tertullian will say that he's uh uh tossed in oil, uh boiling oil, uh in Rome, survives that, and then is eventually exiled um on a small little island uh outside of uh Turkey uh called Patmos, and there he receives uh what we know as uh the revelation.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it'll be John who goes on to to have a writing ministry.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh John will write uh his gospel and then several other letters.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thomas uh is known as doubting Thomas.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: What happened to him after the resurrection?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he wasn't uh present uh when several um of the disciples uh claimed that uh Jesus had been raised from the dead.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: So he asked uh I need to place my hand in his side, uh uh to which Jesus then appears to him and he does touch him uh uh in the side and he then confesses and believes.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but Thomas will go on like the other disciples too, to uh preach uh far and wide uh uh the good news.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tradition has it, um a reliable trish uh tradition from uh Clement of Alexandria, as well as uh Eusebius, uh as well as some other early Christian writings, that Thomas makes his way all the way uh to India, a very great distance uh from uh uh Jerusalem, and he is there uh sharing the good news uh that Jesus Christ has died and has also risen from the dead.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And like Peter, he is also martyred, uh, this time uh being uh thrust through uh with a spear.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's incredible how they went from being fearful to being bold and even willing to die for their faith.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I just think that that shows that Christianity is a life-changing faith.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Would you Oh definitely.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and it definitely was for all the disciples.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um John is the only one who uh uh ha dies a natural death, but we find all of the other disciples going uh different places.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Andrew is crucified sideways, um he makes his way into East Europe uh proclaiming uh the good news.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um it is uh Matthew who makes his way all the way down to Ethiopia, uh, and he uh shares uh that Jesus Christ uh has died and has been resurrected.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Bartholomew also makes his way over to India.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: So they've spread out very, very far and wide.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and to to go from uh uh cowering in a corner, essentially, uh at the time of the crucifixion, to traveling to places even outside of the Roman Empire and being willing to offer their own lives, there's something dramatic that has happened here, no doubt.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening to Centrally Speaking, a ministry of the Central Schweinfelder Church located at 2111 South Valley Forge Road in Worcester, Pennsylvania.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Our website is cscfamily.org, and we want to remind you that we are broadcasting our services virtually.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: We have a service that airs on Sunday.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we also have a Bible study on Wednesday, and these are lengthier presentations, and then several times throughout the week we have short uh devotionals that are also for your benefit.
• 11:56
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• 11:58
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• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Just go to youtube.com and search for Central Schwankfelder.
• 12:13
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• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: During this time of the coronavirus, we are broadcasting our services virtually on those three outlets.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: But regularly we have a 9 a.m.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: traditional service here at the church, followed by a contemporary service at 10 35.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: And as always, you are warmly welcome.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: God bless you.