Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true. He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.” But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about. Luke 18:31-34
Have you
ever missed it entirely? You saw what
you wanted to see, not the reality that was staring you in the face. If you have, you probably have little
difficulty understanding why the disciples just didn’t have a clue. Jesus told them plainly how the next week was
going to play out, and they just couldn’t connect the dots; they missed reality
for a pipe-dream of an earthly king, a political Messiah, who would whip the
Romans and usher in a new regime. They
were holding on to a now-and-right-now mirage, while Jesus was trying to pull
back the curtain and show them reality.
They couldn’t have missed it by a wider margin!
To the
disciples’ credit they had walked with Jesus for over three years, seen incredible
miracles and signs that authenticated their Teacher as the One promised by
the prophets to deliver Israel. They
were star-struck, earth-bound people, fishermen, tax collector, a rabble of
common folk following the Son of God. They
had simple faith in Him, not imagining for a moment that any power on earth
could kill him; after all, they had seen him pass right through an angry mob
that wanted to stone him,[1] and
confounded every Pharisee who ever tried to trip him up with rhetoric. How could they kill this man? No one was like Jesus.
It’s
tempting from our vantage point two-thousand years and a resurrection later to
marvel at how the disciples couldn’t see what Jesus meant, how little real
faith they had. But, lest we forget, those
men, even Judas, had left everything behind, family, jobs, safety of hearth and
home to follow this unknown rabbi, and had firmly stood with him after the adoring
crowds started diminishing through this final year of opposition. They did have real faith! Most of us have a faith that knows nothing of
sleeping on the ground, uncertain of the source of our next meal, away from our
homes, family and friends, staking it all on the promise of this man who said they
could connect with God through Him. They
hadn’t missed the reality of His call to follow; they just missed the reality
about where they were going.
The
disciples were my model when I first surrendered to ministry in 1978. I was going to follow Jesus wherever he
led. Of course, I wasn’t any brighter
than the disciples, and have found myself trusting some assumptions that the
Lord had never promised. I imagined I
would graduate from seminary, go to a church as pastor, stay there 40 or 45
years, and retire. Well, 40 years later
there have been several graduations from 4 theological schools, 9 churches
served, and everything but staying in one place for very long.
In
hindsight I can see God’s hand at every step, and His purposes have peeked-out
from behind the curtain to help me understand why God moved the way He
did. So, come to think of it, I was
right to think ministry would be like it was for the disciples. We’ve seen plenty of miracles and been
confused by most of it along the way. We’ve
found out that His ways are much higher than ours[2]
and more than a little difficult to understand.
But in every circumstance and need of life we have also sensed the confidence
of everlasting arms holding us up and holding us close. There have been times when it seemed like the
darkness would win, like we were three touchdowns behind with only a few
seconds left on the clock, but God was always in control. We haven’t missed reality at all; we’ve had a
front-row seat!
For You Today
When you
follow God today, don’t expect to understand right away, or see the path
clearly; just keep praying, trusting, and stepping. It’s a journey, not unlike travelling through
the birth canal of reality!
Go to VIDEO
[1] Luke
4:29-31
[2] Isaiah
55:9
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