“But it struck them as sheer imagination, and they did not believe the women.” Luke 24:11

The eleven received the report the women gave. They heard them explain their experience and all that had happened that morning: the rising at dawn, the walk to the tomb carrying the burial spices, the stone rolled away, the body gone, the dazzling visitors who asked them why they sought the living in the place of the dead, and the remembering of Jesus’s words and how they saw they had now been fulfilled. The eleven did not believe them. “It struck them as sheer imagination.” The women must be making this up! That couldn’t have really happened. This is simply unbelievable. Sheer imagination! None of this can be real or true.

Dismissed. Disbelieved.

“You’re just imagining things. I don’t believe you.”

When have you heard such statements? When has your experience been dismissed so quickly and seen as not based in reality? When has your truth been rejected?

The resurrection is a lot to take in. It is hard to comprehend and think possible. The reaction of the eleven is not a surprise, considering the magnitude of the events and the conclusions the women made that led to their believing. The first witnesses to the Risen One and several since have been quickly judged as unreliable, unbelievable, and unstable.

As challenging as it may be, spend time today with those experiences of being disbelieved. How did this deepen your convictions and understanding of truth and what you know? How did you pray during this time? What helped you hold on to what you experienced in the face of dismissal? What assists you in the Risen Life when the way is lonely or when you are doubted? What new door of faith has opened in you during these times on the journey?

Prayer: Holy One, the resurrection asks much and demands a depth of faith, trust and believing. Give me courage to hold onto the Risen Life, until others come to believing and seeing your promise fulfilled. Amen. Alleluia.

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