“My ways
are not your ways”
says the Lord [Isaiah 55:8-10]. Who
can know the mind of God? [Romans 11:30-36] Confusion and suffering mixed with joy are the
themes that come out of Scripture for me today.
The apostles are gathered together discussing the latest events and
trying to make sense of their world.
Jesus who had been brutally executed; ends up missing from the tomb and
has appeared to Simon or so he says [Acts 3:11-26]. When the two walking on the road to Emmaus
join this group, they begin telling of their encounter with a stranger . Suddenly Jesus is standing with them. “Peace be with you”, He says to them [Luke
24:35-48]. I can almost feel their fear
and confusion as I imagine this scene.
That feeling of confusion describes how I feel about what’s happening in
our world today. Everyday people whose
worst encounter with the law is an occasional speeding ticket are bound to be
confused with the growing reign of terror in our world today. But the disciples who had been afraid went
out from that confusion to spread the message about the new covenant God had
with His people. When Jesus who was
dead came and stood in their midst and even ate with them. He then explained that what Moses and the
other prophets had foretold had to happen. “Thus it is written that the Christ would
suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the
forgiveness of sins, would be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning
from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of
these things” [Luke 24:46-48}.
Jesus
endured much suffering and even death, but many good works have been done in
His name. Dealing with evil has no less
of a price to pay even today. I don’t
know if we’ve made correct decisions along the way to fighting the evil that is
attacking innocent people in our world today - only time will reveal that
answer. We do know what we were told to
do is to go out and preach the good news about Jesus’ resurrection from the
dead. Let everyone know about your
joy. Christ’s sacrifice has endured many
centuries of Evil’s attempt to take over and remove our reason for Joy. Just as the apostles were fortified by the
Spirit to go on, we are reminded that those same resources haven been handed
down to each of us. Let’s not let Satan
win by fighting amongst ourselves. God
will bring good out of the rubble of our difficulties.
We know we
can’t expect to escape the Cross, and every day the Lord said He will walk with
us to help us carry it. The Lord rebuked
Peter saying “get behind me Satan” when Peter objected to Christ’s saying He
would suffer greatly and be slain for the sake of all of us [Matthew 16:21-23]. Out of the daze of today’s confusion let’s
remember to look up, to ask for God’s help.
Lord,
please continue to be with our world’s leaders helping them to make sound
decisions. Help us too, to move out of
our daze, taking the focus off of ourselves.
Like Peter and the other disciples whose confidence and focus was
restored in the reading from Acts, we want to be about the work of spreading Your
Word and Your Joy. Jesus, I trust in
You.
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