Live in the Blessing

“And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. He said, ‘Peace be with you.’ ”

“Then he said, ‘When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true.’ Then he opened their minds to understand these many Scriptures.” Luke 24: 36, 44

The disciples were confused, frustrated, frightened, discouraged, anxious, fast running out of hope. Things weren’t going as they’d anticipated. They’d walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, lived with Jesus for three years, believed He was the promised Messiah and that He’d bring salvation to the Jewish nation. When they prayed, they prayed in faith and fervency for this to happen.

And then, Jesus was hauled into Herod’s court, given a mock trial, convicted, sentenced, crucified and buried. Not the way they wanted their prayers answered. It all looked wrong, felt wrong, from a human perspective.

Huddled in a room, trying to make heads or tails of what was happening, the disciples are discussing the appearance of the “dead Jesus” to two of them on the road to Emmaus. Suddenly, Jesus, risen from the dead but still not ascended to heaven and the Father, appears in their midst. And the first words out of His mouth aren’t, “Hey, I’m alive … look at me,” but a blessing on them, “Peace be with you.” He knows their human frailties, their confusion. And He speaks to that.

Then He has to convince them that it’s really Him, because their confusion increases. They saw Him killed and buried. How could He be there? Is this a ghost?

So He tells them to touch Him, shows them the holes in His hands and feet, and then eats in front of them, so they can see He’s substantial, not a specter. And then, He does one more thing. Before He gives them a command to tell the world there’s a true Savior and an answer for sin, He opens their minds to understand.

Back in Luke 9: 44-45, Jesus had told His disciples He’d be betrayed and delivered into men’s hands. But they didn’t understand what He was talking about, because the meaning and significance of what He was saying was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand, the Bible says

Now, He shares with them the Scriptures that foretold His death, why it was necessary for Him to do and then, the miracle of His resurrection from the dead. And, this time, He opens their minds to understand.

Like the disciples, we often find ourselves in circumstances beyond our understanding. And though we’ve prayed and prayed, it seems like the things happening don’t match up at all with what we’re asking. So our confusion increases, and along with it, our fear, anxiety and feelings of abandonment or hopelessness.

It may be that our ability to understand right now isn’t what’s important to God … He’ll provide that in His time, when it is important. But, for now, what’s important is that we live in the blessing Jesus speaks over us, “Peace be with you.”

That blessing is ours; it’s for this moment, these circumstances; and we can trust Jesus and His character with the rest … with the things we don’t understand ... with the unchanging circumstances, with the whys, with the answers that seem so different from the ones we’re anticipating, with the unknown and unexplained.

The Apostle Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:12, “For which cause I suffer also these things: yet I am not ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Our confidence isn’t in the movement of His hand in response to our wants and needs at the moment we ask. Our confidence is in the character of the One who loved us so much that He willingly went to the cross, suffered and died in our place for our sins that we might have power over sin and death, enter into relationship with our Creator and live eternally in His presence. And all of this, not because we deserve it, but because of His mercy, grace and love.

There will come a time when He’ll provide understanding, when we’ll no longer “see through a glass darkly,” as it were, but will see the whole picture and the reasons why. But, until then, live in the blessing:

Peace be with you.

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