As part of my Easter morning worship I read through the four accounts given in the gospels. Each one tells a slightly different story. Some differences are minor, others might be significant. Some details are in all. They all agree on the one salient point: The grave was empty.
I found a short passage that stood out to me.
John 20:8-9 (NASB95) 8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.We assume that the “other disciple”, who is never named, was John himself. We can assume that he is giving a first hand account of his experience. What struck me was the two verbs involving the empty grave. First he “believed” and later it says they did not understand.
How can you believe if you don’t understand? That was the first question I had. Then I noticed that the belief was an act of an individual and the understanding seemed to refer to the disciples as a whole.
I think both are important. It is possible that some people will do a lot of study and be led to belief by the path laid out. We all need some knowledge or we would not know we need to believe. The Holy Spirit needs something to work with. At the same time we cannot wait for that moment when we know everything and have great understanding. For most of us we believe first and then learn all the details.
The key is the willingness to respond to the call of God. Make this celebration of the resurrection a red letter day in your life. Rejoice, pure and simple or repent and then rejoice. I have a feeling God will settle for either.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.