Meeting the Risen Christ: Faith and Questions
Daily Scripture
Matthew 28:16-17
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Matthew’s gospel reported a limited number of times when people saw Jesus alive after the resurrection, though other gospels added more accounts (e.g., Luke 24:13-43). Matthew included the significant note that when the eleven disciples saw him, they worshipped him, “but some doubted.” He gave no more detail, but made it clear that questions or doubts need not preclude faith.
- Matthew had already reported the women’s “great fear and excitement” (Matthew 28:8). Here, the presence of both doubt and worship speaks to “the shift in thinking required of Jesus’ followers (e.g., Matthew 16:21-23) and to the need for ongoing development in belief.” The word ‘doubt’ elsewhere in Matthew is “associated with the disciples’ weak faith” (Matthew 14:31; 21:21). * When have you had to shift your thinking to follow Jesus? Was that shift difficult? How did you move through doubts toward deeper belief?
- The earliest record of people meeting Jesus alive wasn’t in the gospels. The apostle Paul, writing around AD 52 or 53, reproduced an established list of Jesus’ appearances after his death (see 1 Corinthians 15:4-8). As one scholar noted, “It is noteworthy that Paul treats most of these people as people who were alive and known in the early Christian communities.” ** Why does it matter that many people—not just one or two who might have been hallucinating—knew Jesus was alive? How does the number and variety of witnesses strengthen your confidence?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, honestly, I sometimes still struggle with doubt. But in the end, I always return to trust the many witnesses and join them in worshiping you as my living Lord. Strengthen my faith even in times of questions. Amen.
GPS Insights
Mikiala Tennie
Mikiala Tennie, who serves as the Student Discipleship Program Director with Resurrection Students, wrote today’s Insight. She has nearly 20 years of ministry experience and loves encouraging others in their spiritual journey. Mikiala is blessed to be an adoptive aunt and godmother to many kiddos and lives with her 10-pound Yorkie, KiKi Okoye Tennie.
I think faith is exercised in the wrestling we do. Wrestling with doubt—with how to hope—how to believe. To wrestle is to try to hope, to try to believe when circumstances and life are working against it.
Scripture tells us that after Jesus’ Resurrection, the disciples met Jesus in Galilee and while some of them worshipped Him, some of them doubted Jesus and all that had transpired recently. Even in the presence of Jesus, it was hard for some people—followers of Jesus—to believe and have hope.
Thousands of years later we still struggle. Sometimes we worship… and sometimes we wrestle. In the wake of Easter and celebrating the Resurrected Christ, you might be anywhere along that spectrum. Wherever you are, I pray that Jesus will meet you there. If your heart is full and worship flows joyfully from your soul, may Jesus meet you there. If your worship comes from a place of grief and in spite of feelings of defeat, may Jesus meet you there. If all you can do is wrestle with doubt, may Jesus meet you there and provide you with an extra measure of endurance.
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted (Matt 28:16-17)”
The disciples traveled to meet Jesus—those who worshiped and those who doubted alike. We do not have to travel far. Today, I pray that you will meet and experience Jesus in the midst of your faith and in the midst of your questions.
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* From Eugene Eung-Chun Park and Joel B. Green, study note on Matthew 28:17 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 62-63 NT.
** Bauckham, Richard, Jesus: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) . OUP Oxford. Kindle Edition.
