What I’m Thinking: Puzzled Witnesses

Jesus asked his friends to be witnesses to his resurrection – but it must be said, they didn’t understand it. Frankly, I find that a comfort.

Here’s a transcript:

Thank you to all those of you who let me know this past week that you enjoyed the song I shared in last week’s show. If you missed it, well, that’s the magic of YouTube. It’s still there, and you can go back and see it.

This week I’m thinking about Luke’s account of the Resurrection (Luke 24:36b-48): the startling appearance of Jesus to his disciples, and how reluctant they were – much as John tells us, in fact – to accept the good news that he had been raised.

It’s during that encounter with them that Jesus explains how the Scriptures predicted what he would do. And this would have been a set of Scriptures that they would have read but have never associated with the Messiah. Other Scriptures were the ones associated with the life, the work, and the victory of the Messiah, and it was a completely different set that Jesus used to interpret his own life, death, and resurrection.

So what I’m thinking about is how difficult it can be to think of ourselves as capable witnesses, as having a testimony, as having something to say, about something we do not understand. And yet that is exactly where Jesus’ closest friends were in the first hours after his resurrection.

They didn’t understand, and yet they were called upon to testify.

I think that comes as a great relief to us. There is a great deal that I do not understand and would love to understand about life, about faith, about God, about Jesus Christ, and frankly I don’t think I’ll ever know it, at least on this side of the veil.

But there are things I do know. I do know about the way that Christ touches my heart, about the way that Christ leads me through life.

And those are things to which I can testify, even if I do not understand.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear about what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below: I’d love to hear from you.