Are you a stickler for reading a book from beginning to end—no skipping around?
Maybe you enjoy a story more when you can release the building pressure of suspense with a quick check to find out how things are going to end.
Would you like to know your future? (I’m thinking of the big questions here—like, will you be around long enough to see your grandchildren get married?).
Would such knowledge allow you to kick back, relax, and just go for the ride? Or, would that feel like a spoiler—and take all the suspense and joy out of the journey?
I am pretty sure that, for me, knowing the bad stuff ahead of time would not be helpful. And knowing the good stuff would make life a tad boring and might even distract me from the little joys of day to day life.
Thankfully, we don’t have to deal with this—or do we?
Sometimes we catch a glimpse of something further down the road, we sense something or are impressed in a way that we suspect is God’s communicating information, but we don’t know for sure. Sometimes it may be someone else who shares a conviction, but that isn’t necessarily verifiable yet.
And if we aren’t comfortable with the information and (especially) if it doesn’t fit with our expectations or understanding), it is a most natural and easy response to avoid it and play dumb.
Typically, we don’t tend to pause in places of discomfort, to linger with the unknown and ask questions.
OK—I’m saying we and maybe it’s just me—me and Jesus’ disciples.
The Gospel of Mark (chapter 9) relates how Jesus takes his disciples to Capernaum by a way where they will have some privacy so he can teach them—prepare them.
“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise,” he tells them (verse 31).
And what do the disciples do with this information?
“… they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it” (verse 32).
Jesus dying did not fit their understanding of his mission, their dreams, or their expectations. And they couldn’t even get past that initial block to even consider the happy ending of a resurrection.
Not only that, but what they were distracted by at the moment was who was going to be the top leader in the kingdom Jesus was building (verses 33-34).
If you’ve every worked with human beings for a common purpose, you get it.
And if you remember how you longed for something with your whole being, and how disappointing it was when there were signs that it might not turn out how you’d hoped, you won’t be too hard on them.
But we can’t help but notice how their avoidance hurt instead of helped.
What if the disciples had said, “Wait a minute! Really? Can you explain that to us?”
We probably wouldn’t find them huddled behind locked doors, utterly despondent and terrified, after the crucifixion—and totally disregarding Mary when she told them, “I’ve seen the Lord!” (Gospel of John 20:19).
(Meanwhile, Jesus’ enemies are putting guards at the tomb because they heard and they remembered Jesus talking about his resurrection).
But here’s the good news—the invitation to rest:
Jesus did not force it on them.
Can you imagine? Jesus doesn’t sit them down and pull out the prophecies and prove it (that won’t happen until after the resurrection—for example, Gospel of Luke 24:13-35).
Jesus didn’t berate them for their pride, selfishness, and jealousies.
Instead, he waits until they get to their destination and are relaxing in the house and then calls them around him and says, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (verse 35).
And then he takes a child in his arms and continues:
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me” (verse 37).
Jesus is gentle and all about growing those disciples. He does not rush and he waits for the right timing.
The disciples kept going through the daily rhythms of eating, sleeping, and following Jesus and the day came when they got it.
Jesus gives us the same break.
All those things we don’t know and don’t really want to know? All those lessons we haven’t assimilated yet?
We are in a process.
Every time the challenge circles around and comes back from a different angle—and we miss it again?
It won’t always be like that.
Here’s to resting in the process.
Until next Friday, may your rest be sweet,
Alicia