I hope this doesn’t sound mean or judgmental, but something inside me feels like holding a private celebration each time Scriptures point out when the disciples missed the point. It feels so indirectly validating. In a weird way, it gives me hope that I’m not the only one who’s slow to catch on, to have that iconic ‘bulb’ light up. Several of the slow guys are mentioned by name, and none stands out for reproaching the others for their thickheadedness. Aah! I’m in good company.
If we re-wound the tape from 2025 back to Jesus’ day, I’m sure my quota of mystified would match that of many. After all, the over-arching hope of all the disciples was that he, the Messiah, would incite a rumble in the streets of Jerusalem, the likes of which had never been seen. And they were so ready! Sure, Jesus had said some bizarre things about arrest and betrayal and being lifted up from the earth, not to mention rebuilding the temple in 3 days! But this mighty clash of powers that was about to happen? Bring it on!
And right at the pinnacle of emotion when everyone was going nuts over the arrival of the Son of David riding, of all prophecy-fulfilling things, on a donkey – Jesus wept! He rained on his own parade! How was anyone to understand this gut-wrenching switch in the proceedings? The swelling crowd, now stunned into silence, was all for him in the most visible, and visceral, way. Everyone waited for the signal, the sign, that now was the time to rise up, to crush Rome, to bring back the glory of Israel. Alas! They’d seriously misread Jesus’ agenda.
The whirlwind of Jesus’ arrest, trial, conviction, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, bonus days and sending the Holy Spirit traumatized the disciples. Making sense of the horror-cum-triumph was beyond them. I get it. How were they to understand what it all meant? In particular I think, the sudden, supernatural tearing of the veil in the temple, from top to bottom no less! at the very moment Jesus died, was a definite signal of an ending and a beginning. But the ending of what, and the beginning of what? Moving forward, how would things change?
Now back to 2025, we have 2 millennia of studies and translations and theological considerations plus countless witnesses and martyrs to help us in our understanding. Two thousand years of deciphering what was never intended to be confusing. We stand now, as is often said, on the shoulders of spiritual giants who blazed a path, a great price, for us. We are living in the now and the not yet of the Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is near, is here, is in us, and is to come. The extravagance of God’s love gift to us, with all our collective smarts, continues to bring us to our knees in praise and worship and adoration. I’m glad for this privilege to be a still-learning disciple – in good company. PD
