On This Day: Letting Our ‘Not Knowing’ Have a Rest

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” (Matthew 26:1-2)

 

   Today was a stop-and-look-at-the-big-picture day. It began with realizing what it meant that “Jesus had finished all these sayings”. Everything from the moment they were leaving Jerusalem and Jesus told the disciples that the Temple would be destroyed, through the two chapters of him answering their question, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Jesus had just given the disciples (and us) an amazing revelation of what was to come.

   So often when people talk about prophecy, they treat it like a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game where every prophecy can be pinned to specific events that we can know in advance. The problem is that there are so many contradictory claims that we don’t know how to pick which one might be right (if any), and so often we listen to explanations and wonder where in the world they get that from! What is so often missing is what it feels like to be little children listening to things we simply don’t understand.

   When we compare what these Jewish disciples had in their minds on that particular day with what they understood a week later as the resurrected Christ was teaching them the realities of his kingdom, it is not stretching anything to imagine them being totally bewildered. Their whole lives they were waiting for the Messiah to come and sit on David’s throne in their generation. But here is the one they believe has proven himself to be that Messiah and he has denounced all the religious leaders, he is talking about his Father’s house being destroyed, he has turned his “coming” into something that happens in the clouds when all the elect are gathered up to him, and now he says he is going to be handed over to be crucified in just a few days!

   The question is, did Jesus know what he was talking about? Is it okay for us disciples to be surprised that he meant something different than we had thought? In fact, is it okay if we don’t have a clue what all these things mean and we just get back to work using our spiritual gifts to serve the body of Christ in love?

   I’m sure you know what my answer is. And here is my encouragement: when reading the Bible every morning feels just like that, like we don’t really “get it” what everything means, just keep going. Tell God whatever is on your heart and mind just like the disciples did. Ask your questions one day and watch for his answers the next. Shake your head at how mind-boggling a teaching may be and then take Jesus’ hand and keep in step with his Spirit.

   And yes, it will some days feel like we are going through “the valley of the shadow of death”, just as the disciples were about to experience, but what did David say was his consolation? “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23). He did NOT say that understanding everything his shepherd had in mind was his comfort, but that Jesus was with him, was guiding him, and comforting him. And that is still how we find our comfort and rest today.

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)