Jesus died on Friday late afternoon. Saturday was the Sabbath. Now it is Sunday, the first day of the week, and very early in the morning, Jesus is already risen. What should follow should be stories of joy and power. Jesus defeated death! He is truly the Son of God! Hallelujah!
But the stories that follow do not have the kind of tone. The stories are all about confusion. Nobody knows what is going on. The women who first went to the tomb told the disciples what the angels have said, but nobody believed. They were all trying to figure out what everything meant, but it was not making sense to them. Then Jesus appears to the disciples personally to show them that he is actually alive, and what this all means. Jesus opened their minds for them to understand the Bible!
As we have been following Jesus during this Lent, and it was a hard journey for me personally. Studying and writing about the Bible requires a lot of work. As you have read, my writing is quite horrible. But I wanted to do this work, so it might benefit other people who also read the Bible, and do not understand what it is saying. The Bible does not read like an encyclopedia nor a great novel. It is confusing and does not make much sense. Half the things that Jesus say does not make sense at first read. That’s why it is hard to read the Bible with our children. Our children ask very reasonable questions, but without some understanding of the passage, it is hard for us to answer them. This is why I wanted to blog alongside the Lent Bible reading plan.
But as we read in our passage, Jesus is the one who gives us understanding. Jesus uses the disciples and us to bear witness and share the great news of who God is and who Jesus is, but ultimately it is Jesus who opens our minds and our hearts. So we need to ask, knock and seek for true understanding. We pray that Jesus will not only open up our hearts, but overflow it with his love and grace that we also can share in his love with our neighbors.
Jesus died for our sins, but God raised Jesus up, because it is everything has been paid for. No more cleansing, no more sacrifices, no more death! We can truly love and know God through Jesus!