“I don’t know.”
I have gotten pretty good at saying these words
lately. It seems like these words can answer most questions that I get asked,
especially regarding things pandemic-related. Months ago I was trying to make
educated guesses on a time-line of events when I was asked questions, but now I
am simply resigned to saying “I don’t know.” And being the calendar-driven
planner that I am, this is has been an adjustment. As of this moment, as I am
writing this, the churches I serve plan to be meeting Sunday morning for an
outdoor worship service at 10:30AM. Will that change? I don’t know. When will
be back inside our building for worship? I don’t know.
One good thing from all my “I don’t know’s” is that
God does know. And I’ve known that all along, but lately that has become a
deeper truth for me.
Matthew chapter 16 ends with Jesus’ predicting His
death. He is letting His disciples know that they will be travelling to
Jerusalem together, and that He “suffer many things at the hands of the elders,
the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed”
(Matthew 16:21).
No one wants to hear that there is suffering on the
road ahead, and the disciples were no different. I am sure that they all
thought the same thing, but it was Peter who vocally objected.
“Never, Lord!” Peter said, “This will not happen to
you!”
Sometimes I think I more than I do (don’t tell me
wife). And sometimes I realize how little that I really do know. Peter thought
that he knew better than Jesus, he thought he had a better way. And the reason
for this, I think, was that Peter was trying to avoid the suffering that Jesus
said that He would encounter in Jerusalem. Peter loved Jesus, and I don’t think
that he wanted Jesus to suffer, but I also don’t think that Peter wanted to
suffer either, and apparently heading to the city with Jesus would mean
suffering for them all.
And that’s natural. None of us want to suffer. The
issue is that as Peter focused on the pain, he was missing the promise.
Jesus didn’t just say that they would be heading into
Jerusalem to suffer and that He would die. He did say that, and that’s probably
where Peter stopped listening. Sometimes when we hear something that we don’t
want to, or something that we don’t agree with we stop listening, and in so
doing we miss the really important part that comes next.
Peter missed a really important part. Jesus wasn’t
just predicting His death, He was also predicting His resurrection!
“And on the third day be raised to life.” (Matthew
16:21b)
And so Peter rebuked, which means to correct
strongly, Jesus because he didn’t hear the whole thing. He stopped listening
because what he heard didn’t sound like what he thought it should. He had just
made a big confession of faith as Jesus as the Messiah, the “Son of the living
God” (Matthew 16:13-20), and now Jesus was saying that He would die? Peter
thought he knew the answer to how things were going to work out, and this
wasn’t it.
Thankfully for all of us, Jesus wasn’t deterred by
Peter. This was one prayer request that I am glad God didn’t answer. Jesus
heading to Jerusalem and His death on the cross would bring forgiveness for the
sins of all the world, and His resurrection on the third day would bring life
to all the world in his name!
Sometimes we don’t have all the answers. Sometimes
life is uncertain. Jesus tried explaining to His disciples exactly what was
going to happen to them, and they didn’t want to hear it. I think we would
probably be the same if we knew everything. So, thankfully we don’t. And that’s
OK, because Jesus does.
Will we experience more suffering in this life, even
this year? Probably. But I don’t know for sure. What I do know that is that
when we focus on the pain, we miss the problem. And the promise is that God is
with us. No matter what the future holds. And that is all the certainty I
really need.
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