The movie "It's a Wonderful Life" has a dissatisfactory ending since the bad rich guy, Mr. Potter, is not brought to justice for his blatant crime of stealing $8,000 from the struggling guy. The ending leaves one's sense of justice unsatisfied. 

But, the account of Jesus' last days, His crucifixion and resurrection have a similar effect on me when I apply simple human reasoning. In my human frailty, I wish that the bad guys would have "gotten theirs"! They mocked him, ridiculed him, disbelieved his message, spat on him, turned him over to Roman authorities, called for his murder, tried to dishonor him by having the sign on his cross changed, and blatantly trying to dissuade others from faith, too!

So, if I would have been alive then, I probably would have encouraged Jesus, once he had risen from the dead, to march right back to the house of the high priest, Caiaphas. I would have encouraged him to give him and all the priests a big "I win!" grin. I would then have encouraged him to walk right back up to the palace area where Pontius Pilate had washed his hands of the whole affair and given him the same victory smile. I would have loved to see them squirm! I would have encouraged him to show all of the doubters and mockers of his day that he was right, and that they were all wrong!

But, when I think it through, the fact that he didn't do all of that is amazingly reasonable. After all, all of those people had many, many opportunities to believe, and He had indeed given them every reason to do so! He fulfilled all of the prophecies, and the high priests knew it! However, all of those people stayed willfully blind, and so Jesus only appeared to those who had faith in Him - those who believed. They were rewarded by the proof that He was alive - for ever! So would they be! Since the others had chosen not to believe, He didn’t show Himself to them. There was nothing to reward. 

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). 

In Christ,