COMING SOON -- EASTER

What an exciting time:  EASTER!! 

The baby grew up!  Mary’s little boy is no longer little and it is time for him to complete his journey on earth.  Can you imagine making sure every teeny-tiny detail leading up to Passover, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection was in place?  The entrance into the city meant the colt had to be in one exact location and  someone had to have all those palm branches ready to hand out.  The room for the Passover could not have been reserved through TripAdvisor.  Judas.  The soldiers.  The cock had to be ready to crow on cue.  Details.  Details.

We know so much and we know so little.  Easter is a time of great sorrow and great joy.  It is a time completely told beforehand but not understood by those closest to Jesus.  Easter draws upon emotions from complete and utter despair to hope.

Yes.  What an exciting time:  EASTER!!  But there has always been something I could not figure out.  WHY DID THE DISCIPLES NOT GET IT?

How could they not understand?  My goodness, Jesus told them.  They heard it with their own ears.  They spent hours, months, and years walking beside him.  Listening to him.  Learning from him.  They saw him heal.  They healed through his name.  They ate with him.  They prayed with him.  They were his disciples.  He chose them.

How could they not understand?  How could Judas betray him?  How could Peter deny him?  How could…  How could…

I will tell you that I would have understood!  I would not have betrayed Jesus!  I would not have hidden and lied about knowing him!

“Mary.”

“Yes, God.  Am I in trouble again?”

“No.  OK.  Just a bit.”  (He chuckled when he said that so I knew the 2X4 was coming out.  You know.  The one he uses to get my attention.)

“Mary, do you understand all of My Word?  You know:  the Bible.  Do you understand it completely?  Every word?  Every syllable?”

“No, but…”

“There is no ‘but’ here.  Your answer is no.  And that is okay.  You are learning.  You are, after many years, beginning to put it all together.  You are digging deep.  But, face it child, you have it right there in front of you to go over again and again and again.  Did the disciples have that?”

“No, but…”

“There is no ‘but’ here.  They did not!  You were going to say, ‘but they had Jesus himself.’ weren’t you?  They did and they learned so much.  They were good disciples.  I love every one of them.”

“How could they not understand?  How could Peter deny Jesus?”

“They were afraid.  How would you feel if all of a sudden the Trinity was taken away from you?  You have the Bible.  What if you no longer had that?  What if you could no longer feel the Holy Spirit in you?  What if you could not have the forgiveness of the Cross?  What if you could not pray?  What..”

“I would be afraid.  I would feel lost.  I would feel abandoned.  I would not understand.  I would hide.”

“My child, the disciples did learn and they wrote it down for you.  They wrote it down so you would know the truth.  So you would have hope.  So you would have faith.  Eternal life.  The disciples did understand.  They spread the Gospel from one believer to another to another to another.  Do you understand now?”

“Beginning to.  The disciples were chosen by Jesus but they were also human.  They had their support – Jesus – taken from them and they were afraid.  I guess the answer to my question is they did know.”

“Shall I put the 2 X 4 down for now?”

“Yes, please.  But keep it handy.  I am sure you will be getting it out again shortly.”

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20

Can you imagine making sure every teeny-tiny detail leading up to Passover, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection was in place?  Every detail – even how the disciples reacted so they could “therefore go.”