Have you ever experienced a loved one being told they had a short time to live? Have you experienced grief the moment you heard it? Has the grief been so overwhelming that you didn’t hear anything else said for a few moments?
If we live long enough, we will experience the sorrowful news that a loved one doesn’t have much longer to live. I’ve been through that a few times in my life. Grief, worry, and maybe even despair set it. It can cause us to miss what is said shortly thereafter. I can cause us to walk around in a fog for a few minutes, hours, or even days.
The disciples missed what Jesus said after He said He would be betrayed and killed. They missed Him say He would be raised to life on the third day. When they heard He was going to be killed, their brains went into shock, grief, sorrow, and despair.
Why would we think the disciples would react any differently than we do? Jesus was a close companion of theirs. He had become both mentor and friend. They acknowledged Him as the Son of God, the Messiah, but I’m not sure they fully recognized what that meant yet. Don’t we do the same thing?
Don’t we fail to recognize what it fully means for Jesus to be the Son of God? We look at Him as though He were another person. We look at Him as a friend, a co-worker, a loved one, but fail to see Him as the Son of God. We fail to see that He overcame death. Oh, we acknowledge it intellectually. We just don’t comprehend it fully.
We live our lives in a fog, not fully seeing Jesus for who He is. Otherwise, our lives would be much different. And, unfortunately, every other person we meet is living in the same fog. We’ve never seen anyone who has been resurrected. It’s tough to wrap our brains around it. But if we can get just a glimpse, it will alter our lives dramatically.
I pray we all make the attempt to see Jesus for who He really is. I pray we see Him as the risen Savior. I pray each one of us will gain a deeper understanding of what it means to conquer death. Seek to see beyond the fog. Seek to understand Jesus. Know that He overcame death. Allow Him to alter your life.
Matthew 17:22-23 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
Marty Pressey 