On the night that Jesus was betrayed, his disciples fled leaving him to face his ordeal alone.  Peter flatly denied that he ever knew Jesus with oaths and curses.  So, when Jesus arose from death what message did he first send to his disciples?  We might suppose he would tell them he had now decided to be a stranger to them. Or at least, we might imagine that his first words to them would be a rebuke of their failure.  Or maybe, he would attempt to shame them telling them how much he had just suffered for them while they were failing him.   But there’s nothing like that here.

 Instead, his first words to Mary were, “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’ (John 20:17).  Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.  Surely his brothers had been ashamed of him!  For him to call them brothers here shows his deep bond of love with them.  Jesus goes on, “Tell them,” I am ascending to my Father and your Father.” Jesus is eager to assure his brothers that his Father is their Father, and their Father is his Father. And soon he will go and prepare a place for them in his Father’s house so that they may be with him in the Father’s presence.  Furthermore, Jesus and his Father will soon come to them, by the Spirit, making their home with them. Jesus wants to assure his brothers of all this even after their total failure.

Consider this when you are troubled over your own failures.