A Pause to
Ponder God's Word
"What Things?"
They talked along the way trying
to make sense out of all that had happened. The seven mile trip seemed
so much longer this time. How could Jesus have died? How could it all end
this way? How much darker could things get? As they walked a stranger appeared.
He was not really a stranger, but they were kept from recognizing Him.
Luke does not make it clear what kept them from recognizing Jesus, only
that they were. He entered into their conversation by asking what they
were discussing. They were surprised that there was actually someone in
the area that didn't know what was going on. They quipped back, "Are you
only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened
there these last days?" Jesus catches them by surprise as He simple asks,
"What Things?" (See Luke 24:13-35)
His question catches us by surprise
too. Jesus didn't need these men to tell Him what was going on. Nonetheless,
He asked. They answer His question and in doing so reveal more than the
facts. They reveal their understanding, or lack thereof, of the facts.
Jesus makes this clear with His response; "How foolish you are, and how
slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!" Jesus went on to explain
it all to them. He gave them new understanding of the happenings by giving
the facts a new context. Then, sitting at the table with the two men, Jesus
broke bread and immediately the scales fell from their eyes. They recognized
Jesus! In utter amazement they looked at each other and asked, "Were not
our hearts burning within us...." The facts hadn't changed. They had the
facts down pat. Their problem was they lacked the correct context in which
to place the facts. They needed the facts to be placed in the proper context.
They had been viewing everything from the context of this world and from
their own experience. Jesus placed the facts into the context of His Word
and the reality of His Resurrection (this being the one fact they missed).
That made the all the difference.
How often we are just like these
two forlorn disciples. We analyze our situations and life happenings only
to find ourselves confused, frustrated, and desperate to make some sense
of everything. Jesus comes onto our midst and we are kept from seeing Him
at work. He asks, "what things?" and we quip back that He must have no
grasp of the situation. If He had he would not need to ask us such a question.
But He persists, because we need a new context, the proper context. Through
prayer we recite the facts and then with quiet heart we listen as Jesus
"re-contextualizes" it all for us. He places the facts into the context
of His living active Word and into the reality of His resurrection. Nothing
remains the same here. Now our hearts burn within us. They burn with hope,
strength, victory, and love. They burn with the fresh awakening that The
One who has conquered sin and death, The One Whose Word is eternally true
and faithful, The One Who has redeemed us, He is with us and is Lord over
all! This is our context. We must not be "foolish and slow of heart." We
must believe and live within this context.
The two disciples ran all the way
back the seven miles to Jerusalem. Bursting the through doors into the
room where the others were gathered they shouted, "It is true, The Lord
has risen!" Notice the emphasis on "The Lord." You see, they now saw, not
through faithless eyes, but through faith-full eyes. Now the facts were
understood within the proper context, through the reality that Jesus Is
Lord, risen according to His Word. This, beloved, is our context too. The
Lord, our Lord, is risen, and that makes all the difference in eternity!
Hallelujah! Amen!
Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry
A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed
by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene.
These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety
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