Do we understand? ...

Friday, April 7, 2017. Sometimes you hear someone talk about something, but somehow you do not get the point. This can happen everywhere - in a personal conversation, between men and women, but also in business or when you study. Someone tries to explain, but you just do not understand what he or she really wants.

Hidden from them …

When Jesus is talking with his disciples, we face a similar situation. Jesus tries to explain his mission and what will happen. He talks about death and pain - but his disciples do not get the points. Let us look into this passage as it is written in the gospel of Luke:

31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (from Luke 18)

This sentence is catching my attention: “It was hidden from them”. This sentence describes what I remember when I first tried to understand the New Testament. I just could not understand. It was hidden from me. Only after I started to read, to discuss, and then came to faith, I started to understand. Can it be, that this is that storng, that many things are hidden from so many? Here, the most important steps of the gospel were hidden even from the disciples of Jesus!

Easter …

We are now moving towards the Easter celebration. We celebrate this death and the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate justice and forgiveness on Good Friday. And we celebrate new life and a new beginning on Easter Sunday. It is very important and deep things, for each human and for mankind!

Do we understand the full meaning of Easter? Perhaps we are just some critics and do not understand it at all. Or we are disciples of Jesus, but still are to a good part on the wrong track with our life, our concept of success, our goals and priorities. It is not that all who claim to believe in Jesus would be there already!

At the same time Easter is an invitation. Jesus is trying to explain himself. He is talking, he is there, walking with his disciples. Even if they do not yet understand, he does not let them down. In the same way he is treating us today as well. He wants us to open our heart and our mind for his message, to listen, and to understand! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts