Since Adam’s fall, God’s Plan ‘A’ has been in progress, building, directing, speaking, punishing where necessary, speaking more. To His children, His work has looked like the inside of a tapestry cushion, an intertangled mess of various threads and knots in myriad colors, giving no hint of the developing design on the other side. Attempts to figure out what was happening continued to prove fruitless. Wearied from the effort of trying to fathom His plan, His children constantly strayed into disastrous situations. Then, Jesus came. By then, there had been some who felt they ‘saw’ what God was up to, what the knotted mass of threads meant. And because they had already made up their minds as to the Plan, and because Jesus was as unsuitable candidate to their version, he was deemed a scandal, an impostor, a charlatan, a blasphemer, a heretic. As Jesus’ popularity grew, the greater the threat he posed to the ‘B’ version developed by the religious rulers. Removing Jesus became the only solution to settle the ‘unrest’ among the masses. To the great relief of the ruling powers, Jesus died and was buried. Their plan (and the status quo) remained securely intact.
That is, until Jesus came back from the dead. His resurrection was like taking that ages-old tapestry cushion and turning it right side out, at long last revealing the full beauty and glory of Plan ‘A’ which had been in steady progress for centuries. The shock at seeing the complete scene was so intense no one could fully absorb it. The religious rulers desperately wanted to explain it away through propaganda. For Jesus’ followers, their entire lives had been steeped in the details of the B-plan. Now, attempting to take in the magnificence before them was too much. They saw Jesus without really seeing or knowing him. They thought their minds were playing tricks on them. Mary had to grab hold of him. Thomas had to touch his wounds. The whole group had to watch him eat some fish. Peter had to be eye to eye with him to be re-instated into fellowship. They all needed another forty days of repetitious instruction from him. And then, their first step in this new venture was, of all things, to wait. Indefinitely. For something they were to receive. Their part in God’s ‘tapestry’ (now revealed) was mind-boggling, beyond all their capabilities, terrifying. They felt unprepared but there was no turning back.
I wonder what more we need to play our part in God’s ‘tapestry’? PD
