"Now You See Him...."

While the story of the empty tomb is reported in each of the four gospels, there are some notable differences in what happened after the resurrection of Jesus.  Matthew and Mark have a post resurrection view that can best be described as "Now you see Him, now you don't"   On the other hand, Luke and John have a different view of what happened after the emptiness of the tomb was discovered which can be described as "Now you see Him, now you don't, and there He is again."  With the first two gospel writers, the story mostly ends with the resurrection, but such is not the case with Luke and John.     

The "Now you see Him, now you don't, and there He is again"  writers include wonderful stories that we know as the Emmaus Road, the locked room break-ins, and breakfast on the beach.  In these stories the resurrected Jesus seems to move from the visible, to the invisible, and back to the visible realm again.  If it is true that there is a thin veil between here and there, then Jesus knew exactly where and how to be gone; yet, still be among those who in the beginning were not even looking for Him.    

What is so appealing about these "Now you see Him, now you don't, and there He is again"  stories is the way we are given assurance that the One who has risen has not simply left the tomb to disappear from our midst.  He is in the heavenly realm, but still He chooses to linger here sometimes slipping through the veil between here and there to make Himself powerfully known once again.