They went home

Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. - John 20.10

I have never, ever noticed this little phrase before. Jesus had been crucified and now the tomb was empty. I don’t know what I should have expected here, but ‘the disciples went home’ is not on my list of possible responses.

They just went home.

I am not sure what to think about that. It just seems kind of strange that after all that had happened the disciples would just ‘go home.’ The commentators differ over whether that means they went back to their own houses or they went back to where they had come from. Either way it still seems kind of strange that they just left when they encountered the empty tomb.

When I first read this it was with a critical spirit. ‘How could they just go home after seeing the empty tomb?’ But on reflection I am not so sure that they did the wrong thing. When we look down just a few verses we find the disciples gathered together when Jesus came into the room.

Sometimes we can rush headlong into programmes and activities without even stopping to think, pray, and talk it over. Later on, when Jesus came to meet them they were all assembled together. They didn’t scatter in fear.

I tend to be an over-reactor. Maybe I can take a lesson from these guys. Don’t try to fix it or sort it out without thinking about. Stop, reflect, pray, get some counsel and then move on. In the meantime the Lord might just step in and show me what to do.