Have you ever felt caught between Jesus’s instructions and your own emotional paralysis? The disciples found themselves in precisely this tension after the resurrection. While angels clearly instructed them to journey to Galilee to meet their risen Lord, we find them huddled behind locked doors in Jerusalem—afraid, confused, and overwhelmed. Yet in this moment of their disobedience, Jesus came to them anyway. This beautiful paradox reveals something profound about our Savior’s heart: His grace always reaches us where we are, even when we’re not where we’re supposed to be. The disciples’ journey from paralyzed fear to purposeful mission teaches us how divine patience works alongside divine command.
Biblical Insight
The resurrection accounts across the Gospels create a coherent though multi-faceted narrative about Jesus’s appearances and instructions. In Matthew 28:7, the angel explicitly tells the women, “Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him.” Jesus Himself reinforces this instruction in Matthew 28:10: “Do not be afraid; go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” Yet despite these clear instructions, John 20:19 shows the disciples still in Jerusalem on resurrection evening, and John 20:26 confirms they were still there eight days later when Thomas was present.
What we’re witnessing is the compassionate flexibility of Jesus, who meets His followers in their weakness while still maintaining His original purpose. In the ancient Near Eastern context, Galilee held significant meaning as the place where Jesus had called most of His disciples (Matthew 4:18-22) and where He had done much of His ministry. Jerusalem represented danger and trauma for the disciples—the place where their Master was crucified. Yet Luke 24:49 reveals another dimension: “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This indicates a divine timeline where Jerusalem appearances, including Jesus breathing (His overcoming Spirit) on faltering disciples would precede the Galilean commission.
The literary framework of the Gospels shows us Jesus working with a divine sequence: first comforting and confirming His resurrection to His fearful disciples in Jerusalem, then commissioning them for worldwide ministry in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20), and finally sending them forth with power from Jerusalem (Acts 1:4-8). This was not a contradiction but a progression. Jesus’s appearance in Jerusalem despite His Galilee instructions demonstrates His willingness to work within human frailty while guiding His followers toward His ultimate purpose. We see this pattern throughout Scripture (think of Jonah and the whale), where God’s commands are firm yet His grace is flexible, meeting us in our weakness while moving us toward His perfect will.
Practical Wisdom
The disciples’ experience mirrors our own spiritual journey in profound ways. How often do we find ourselves paralyzed by fear, grief, or confusion—knowing full well what Jesus has instructed but feeling unable to move forward? The disciples had received clear direction to go to Galilee, yet their emotional and psychological state kept them locked in Jerusalem. Instead of abandoning them to their disobedience, Jesus came to where they were—offering peace, showing His wounds, and breathing His Spirit upon them. This teaches us that divine grace often precedes our obedience.
This pattern reflects how the Holy Spirit works in our lives today. When we find ourselves stuck in spiritual paralysis, Jesus doesn’t simply wait at our destination with arms crossed in disappointment. He meets us in our confusion and fear, providing exactly what we need to eventually follow through on His commands. The Jerusalem appearances were preparatory—building faith, dispelling doubt, and creating community. Only then were the disciples ready for the Great Commission in Galilee. Similarly, God often prepares us through unexpected grace encounters before we’re ready to fulfill His larger purposes for our lives.
Remember that when you feel unable to follow through on what you know God has called you to do, His grace reaches you where you are. However, this grace isn’t permission to remain stationary—it’s empowerment to eventually move forward. The disciples did eventually go to Galilee (Matthew 28:16), and there they received their world-changing commission. Grace meets us in our weakness, but it doesn’t leave us there; it strengthens us to fulfill our calling. Be encouraged that Jesus works with our timeline while gently guiding us toward His perfect plan.
Clearing up misunderstandings
A common misconception about this passage is that Jesus’s appearances represent contradictions in the Gospel accounts, with some scholars suggesting these are irreconcilable discrepancies. However, this view fails to recognize the complementary nature of the resurrection narratives. Each Gospel writer emphasized different aspects of the resurrection story to communicate particular theological truths to their audiences. Matthew highlights Galilee because it represents Jesus’s mission to the Gentiles and the world beyond Jewish territories, while Luke and John emphasize Jerusalem appearances because they focus on continuity with Israel’s covenant story and the birth of the church.
Another misunderstanding is viewing the disciples’ failure to immediately go to Galilee as simple disobedience. This overlooks the psychological reality of trauma and grief they were experiencing. Mark 16:8 tells us the women were initially too afraid to tell anyone what they had seen, and Luke 24:11 reveals that when they did share their testimony, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” The disciples weren’t merely being stubborn—they were processing unprecedented events that completely upended their understanding of death, messiahship, and God’s kingdom plan.
Some also mistake Jesus’s appearance in Jerusalem as invalidating His Galilee instruction, suggesting His commands are flexible or optional. This misses the point entirely. Jesus’s Jerusalem appearances weren’t replacing the Galilee commission but preparing the way for it. His commands remain firm, but His method of bringing us to obedience is grace-filled and patient, understanding our weaknesses while not lowering His standards. The fact that the disciples did eventually travel to Galilee shows that Jesus’s original instruction stood firm—His Jerusalem appearances simply provided the courage and faith they needed to follow through.
Conclusion
The journey from Jerusalem to Galilee represents the path from fearful paralysis to purposeful mission that each believer must travel. Jesus meets us in our Jerusalem moments—those times when we’re huddled in fear behind locked doors of doubt and confusion. Yet He doesn’t merely comfort us; He equips and empowers us to step into our Galilee calling—the place of greater purpose and worldwide impact. His grace is always the bridge between our failure and His purpose.
Take heart in knowing that the risen Lord is neither rigid in His demands nor permissive in His patience. He understands our weaknesses while actively moving us toward greater faithfulness. The same Jesus who appeared to doubting disciples in Jerusalem and commissioned them on a Galilean mountain walks with you today, patient with your process yet persistent in His calling. His resurrection power reaches you where you are and propels you toward where He’s leading. This divine rhythm of grace and guidance remains the heartbeat of authentic discipleship in every generation.
Did you know
The Sea of Galilee, where Jesus met with His disciples after His resurrection, sits about 700 feet below sea level, making it the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world after the Dead Sea. This geographical reality has been interpreted by some scholars as symbolically significant—Jesus chose to give the Great Commission from a mountaintop at one of the lowest places on Earth, emphasizing how His kingdom message would reach from the depths to the heights, covering the entire world from the lowest valleys to the highest mountains.
