PLEASE GIVE US UNDERSTANDING AND WISDOM
Luke 24:45-49 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Following Jesus resurrection Mark said Jesus appeared in different forms. John said Mary thought he was a gardener until he mentioned her name. Matthew says that when the eleven saw him they worshiped him, but some of them doubted. Luke said that at first they thought he was a ghost until they saw his hands, feet and ate with him. Jesus even went so far as to tell Thomas to put his finger in his hands and his hand in his side. Later in Galilee Jesus met with his disciples and even then some questioned if it was Jesus, but it says none of them dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
Why did he do this? The answer may be seen as Cleopas and another disciple were walking to Emmaus. It was Sunday the day of Jesus’ resurrection. As they walked they talked about how Jesus’ death took them by surprise. They like his apostles and probably most of the other disciples that followed Jesus thought that he would set Israel free from Roman occupation. As they were walking Jesus came up to them and started walking with them. It says that they were kept from recognizing him. This certainly tells us that the lack of recognizing Jesus was something he wanted to do rather than just a change in his appearance due to his resurrection. There was a purpose for his deception. As they talked together, Jesus gave the appearance that he didn't know anything about this Jesus, crucifixion or resurrection. Once again he did this for a reason. Jesus was wanting to know what they thought about all of it and what their plans were. The reason for this is free will. God knows what we are thinking, but not what we will think or do. This is why God will test us! Jesus was assessing the situation of his church. Some might call it damage control. Jesus knew what he was going to do, but he needed to know what needed to be done as well. When he did finally meet with his apostles he even rebuked them for their lack of faith and stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. (Mark 16:14)
As Jesus walked with them he began to remind them how Christ (himself) had to fulfill the Scriptures. But when they approached the village Jesus acted as if he would continue on his way. I believe that this was another test for them. He wanted to see if they wanted to hear more, and was open to believe that he had indeed risen from the grave. Once again Jesus wanted to see what their free will would bring about. Because they wanted to hear more he stayed to give them more insight. If they had not invited him to say I believe Jesus would have went on, and they would have missed out on him revealing himself to them. Because they chose to follow the insight of their spirit, they saw Jesus reveal himself right before their eyes.
Later when Jesus met with his apostles he questioned them as to why they were troubled, because many still didn’t believe. This is when he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. Both with the men going to Emmaus and now with his apostles, Jesus was opening their mind to the Scriptures. Their logical conclusions to Jesus death could not accept the spiritual reality of who was standing right in front of them. Even though they touched him and saw him eat, their physical reasoning would not allow for the impossible to be accepted. They needed to reboot so to speak! They needed to deal with all that took place from a spiritual perspective.
People today still have the same problem accepting the supernatural. To show how even in theological circles like the United Methodist Church, many stress the quadrilateral or thinking like this. The quadrilateral says that religious standards should be based on scripture, reason, tradition and experience. Well, as far as I am concerned this doesn’t work for me and evidentually it didn’t work for Jesus either, or he would have used them in trying to help his disciples to believe in his resurrection. Jesus opened their minds to the scriptures. Did he say, “Has anyone here besides me experienced resurrection? Don’t you find this reasonable? Do any of you have this tradition running in your family? I don’t think so! This is one of the reasons many Christians, denominations and even pastors have such weak faith. They continually try to explain the things of God with the mind of non-believers. We don’t have to get down on their level of faith in our belief. They need to get on our level of getting a right belief based on what God has given us in his Scriptures. Once they do this, then they can have a trustworthy belief to have faith in.
To sum this up a bit, we must pray for understanding and wisdom to help even our unbelief. Just like the father that wanted Jesus to set his boy free from a demon. The father told Jesus, “I do believe, but help my unbelief.” We need to not only pray for this for ourselves, but for those we are trying to help become a Christian.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, thank you for not giving up on us. Please help us to continue to have insight into your word and will, so we can be all Jesus would have of us. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
