Saturday, May 10, 2014
Luke 24:25-27 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
PATIENT TEACHER OF THE RESURRECTION
Being a patient teacher can be hard, and not everybody who is good at something is good at teaching it. You sometimes hear of university professors who are at the top of their fields in academic knowledge, but are poor teachers because they are impatient with their students. They simply cannot understand how someone else cannot understand.
Think about the two men leaving Jerusalem and walking the road to Emmaus. They were bewildered at the events that had happened over the weekend, but shouldn't they have known the simple truths of Jesus' resurrection already? They nearly recited every significant prophecy themselves as they recounted the events to Jesus. It should have been more than obvious to them what had happened, but they just did not "get it." They were blinded by sorrow and distracted by their doubt even though the answer to their questions had been there for them all the time.
Jesus scolded them for not knowing what they should have known, but then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he patiently explained to them the Scriptures. He likely took them back to the fall into sin (Genesis) where Adam and Eve had disobeyed and brought sin to all people. He reminded them how we have all disobeyed God and our sins call for punishment. He probably took them to the promises made to Abraham, who was told that one of his descendants would be a blessing to the world. The words of Isaiah would have shown that a Savior would come, born of a virgin and that this Servant of God would be put to death for the sins of the whole world -- then also to the prophecies of the resurrection, showing them that the Holy One would not see decay in the grave and that the stone the builders rejected had become the capstone. He patiently taught them what the Scriptures said about himself, how He had to suffer for our sin and rise from the dead on the third day.
The Emmaus disciples remind us of ourselves, don't they? Doesn't it happen that we miss things in the Scriptures just like they did? We become bewildered, confused, or sad, and we seek answers -- and the answers may be in the Bible the whole time, we just do not see them. We can be very "dense" and fail to notice obvious things that God has been telling us for a long time because we are blinded by our own sin or sorrow.
Yet Jesus forgives our sin and patiently comes and teaches us too. As our living Lord risen from the dead, He opens our minds to see the Scriptures that are before us, correcting us, guiding us, and leading us to understand what is there for us. How thankful we are for His patient teaching!
