April 12

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. - 1 Corinthians 15:6.

WE here find the Saviour in the very mysterious passage of his life which elapsed between his resurrection and his ascension. Where he was during these intervening weeks, and how he was employed, it is impossible for us to conjecture. All that we know is, that he maintained an occasional intercourse with his disciples, “to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” To one of these interviews we are here led. “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted.”

Who were these doubters? As all the apostles had seen him before, and as Thomas, most incredulous of them all, expressed himself perfectly satisfied, it could not be any of the eleven. But there were others now present; and this is the season to which the apostle refers when he says, “After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.” The case was this. Though he had repeatedly appeared to his apostles separately and collectively, all these appearances were unexpected; whereas this interview was appointed. Jesus ordered his disciples to go away to a particular mountain in Galilee, and promised there to be seen of-them. Now, knowing this, and not willing to share their privilege alone, they called upon their neighbours and friends to accompany them on this occasion. This series to account for the largeness of the assembly, and for the hesitation of some who, not so accurately remembering his features, could not instantly identify him, (an instance of the impartiality and fearlessness of the sacred historians in recording all that happened, whether it could be deemed favourable or unfavourable to their cause) And we read that Jesus “came and spake unto them.” “Came”? Was he not there with them before? Dr. Campbell therefore renders it, “And Jesus drew near”-that is, he approached the eleven in the presence of the five hundred-“and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”