August 6, 2024

Passage Read: Matthew 27-28
Meditation Verses: 27:63-64

Thought

The chief priests and the Pharisees understood that Jesus had promised to rise on the third day.  Jesus' own disciples didn't get the message; they didn't understand, though Jesus had repeated it multiple times.  Yet these unbelievers had a better understanding of Jesus' words!  Remarkable!  They didn't believe that Jesus would, but they thought His disciples might steal the body and claim that He had.  If only they understood the disciples as well as they understood the things Jesus said.  If only they had believed Jesus' words!  How great they would be as disciples!

Application

How often is it that an unbeliever understands better the plain meaning of Scripture and its implications, than do Christians?  We have been kicking things around for so long that we have arguments in favor of one interpretation or another!  We can no longer see the plain and simple meaning, and the implications of Jesus' words, because we've muddied it with arguments that protect us from actually having to obey it.  It is good to hear the understanding of the "uninitiated," to get an unfiltered interpretation of God's word and consider that against the rest of Scripture.  I need to practice setting aside all the Christianese and traditional views when reading Scripture, and even welcome the interpretation of an unbeliever or brand new believer.  Let them ask their questions, because it reveals their understanding, which may challenge my own safe view.  I may see why some consider us Christians to be hypocrites.  I need to be slow to correct someone like that, and take time to search the Scriptures to make sure my view is correct.