Jesus' Sixteenth Appearance 

On the evening of Friday, May 5, 30 CE, the believers in Jerusalem made their first attempt to get together since the resurrection in the courtyard of Nicodemus. Present were the eleven apostles, the women’s corps and their associates, and about fifty other leading disciples, including many of the Greeks. This group had been talking with one another informally for over half an hour when Jesus appeared to them in full view.

Jesus began with a reminder of what he had foretold, "Peace be upon you" and then continued. "This is the most representative group of believers—apostles and disciples, both men and women—to which I have appeared since the time of my deliverance from the flesh. I now call you to witness that I told you beforehand that my sojourn among you must come to an end; I told you that presently I must return to the Father. And then I plainly told you how the chief priests and the rulers of the Jews would deliver me up to be put to death, and that I would rise from the grave. Why, then, did you allow yourselves to become so disconcerted by all this when it came to pass? and why were you so surprised when I rose from the tomb on the third day? You failed to believe me because you heard my words without comprehending the meaning thereof."

Jesus then revealed the purpose of his life on earth and its saving message, "And now you should listen to my words lest you repeat the mistake of hearing my teaching with your mind while failing to understand the meaning in your hearts. From the beginning of my time among you, I taught you that my sole purpose was to reveal my Father in heaven to his children on earth. I have lived the God-revealing bestowal so that you might have a God-knowing career. I have revealed God as your Father in heaven, and you as God's children on earth. It is true that God loves you. By believing in my word, this fact becomes an eternal and living truth in your hearts. When you become divinely God-conscious through living faith, you are born of the spirit as children of light and life, even eternal life, with which you will ascend the universe of universes and have the experience of finding God, the Father in Paradise."

Jesus then concluded by telling his believers what they should do next: "I admonish you ever to remember that your mission among men is to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom—the reality of the fatherhood of God and the truth of the sonship of man. Proclaim the whole truth of the good news, not just a part of the saving gospel. Your message is not changed by my resurrection experience. Sonship with God, by faith, is still the saving truth of the gospel of the kingdom. You are to go forth preaching the love of God and the service of man. That which the world needs most to know is: Men are the sons of God, and through faith they can actually realize, and daily experience, this ennobling truth. My bestowal should help all men to know that they are the children of God, but such knowledge will not suffice if they fail personally to faith-grasp the saving truth that they are the living spirit sons of the eternal Father. The gospel of the kingdom is concerned with the love of the Father and the service of his children on earth.

"Among yourselves, here, you share the knowledge that I have risen from the dead, but that is not strange. I have the power to lay down my life and to take it up again; the Father gives such power to his Paradise Sons. You should the rather be stirred in your hearts by the knowledge that the dead of an age entered upon the eternal ascent soon after I left Joseph’s new tomb. I lived my life in the flesh to show how you can, through loving service, become God-revealing to your fellow men even as, by loving you and serving you, I have become God-revealing to you. I have lived among you as the Son of Man that you, and all other men, might know that you are all indeed the sons of God. Therefore, go you now into all the world preaching this gospel of the kingdom of heaven to all men. Love all men as I have loved you; serve your fellow mortals as I have served you. Freely you have received, freely give. Only tarry here in Jerusalem while I go to the Father, and until I send you the Spirit of Truth. He shall lead you into the enlarged truth, and I will go with you into all the world. I am with you always, and my peace I leave with you."

When the Master had finished speaking to them, he vanished from their sight.

It wasn’t until daybreak that these believers went to their homes. They were up all night reflecting on what Jesus had said, while the apostles also shared their experiences with what Jesus had told them during three other resurrection appearances.