No one prepared for the first
resurrection.
We look through the Biblical record
now, with the perspective of centuries, and see Jesus plainly telling
His disciples of, preparing them for, His death and resurrection.
Yet when He came bursting out of the
tomb, His followers were still in mourning. Mary Magdalene looked an
angel in the face as he told her, “He is alive,” and she still
sought His mutilated body.
“How could they have missed it?” we
wonder sagely. With the exception of the extravagantly generous woman of Mark 14:3-9, no one saw Calvary - or Easter - coming. Defeat didn't fit their picture of
the expected messiah. There was no room for humiliation and death in
their version of what the christ would achieve.
We can fill hours with the prophecies
they missed, misinterpreted, and overlooked. Starting in Genesis, God
prepared His people for a Rescuer who would be bruised (3:15). But
they wanted a rescuer who would fill the stomachs of his followers
with food, who would drive out their oppressors in the vein of the
Maccabees, and who could raise his army from the dead if need be.
Jesus didn't fit their ideal. And if
their ideal wasn't fulfilled, they concluded, He must not have been
The One.
Which is what makes the High Holy Days
of the Church calendar an excellent time to ferret out our own
beloved idols. Certainly, if the very people who walked the dusty
roads beside Jesus missed His true nature, we who are distracted by
books, screens, and thousands of voices bombarding us daily might
also have some false ideas of our Savior.
- Maybe you've bought into the idea of a god who dispenses favor for those who check off all the items on his holy to-do list.
- Maybe your version of idolatry is a god who leaves you alone as long as you live a decent life.
- Maybe you think god is out to get you, just waiting for you to give him an opening to zap you.
- Maybe your god made you the way you are and would never dream of asking you to change a single aspect of your life.
- Maybe god made you basically good and wants you to follow your heart.
This isn't a comprehensive list, so if
you're sweating over whether or not I'll mention your pet misbelief,
don't let my omission quench the Spirit of conviction. I can identify
a few, mostly because they've had to be weeded out of my own life. (I've still got plenty. I know, because the Holy Spirit tends to let
me know about them from time to time, usually when I'm feeling most
comfortable and smug with myself.)
Does it matter? Don't our little
beliefs comfort us?
But if they're false ideas about God, we are in
fact worshiping a false god. We form God in our image, and wonder why
He doesn't perform to our specifications. We can even find Scriptures
to support our beloved baals, for heaven's sake! So don't think, because you can give a reference that backs you, that you have an
exclusive claim to understanding an aspect of God.
This Lent, and in your celebration of
Easter, ask God to show you where you have worshiped an idol rather
than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He will answer, because He is in the
business of revealing Himself.
It's why we have Easter, after all.
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