HEARING Versus Hearing
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hand of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered his words. Luke 24:1-8, RSV.
They had a job to do and they knew it. Jesus had died late on Friday afternoon and there had been no time to prepare His body properly for burial before the Sabbath arrived. The body had merely been wound in linen and placed on a shelf, after which someone rolled the stone in front of the door and the Roman soldiers sealed it, with the Jewish leaders standing by to see that it was done correctly.
But the burial job had not been completed. The linen from the body would have to be unwound and rewound as they placed the spices into the folds of the winding sheet.
With that task in mind, some of the women arrived carrying the spices, presumably the ones purchased by Nicodemus. The last thing they expected was an empty tomb. Obviously they had not gone to the tomb while saying to themselves, "Well we have some spices just in case He is still dead, but we really think He is alive again." To the contrary. The women knew the basic fact of life that dead people remained that way.
But the empty tomb shifted their thinking, their immediate task, and their lives. Yet they shouldn't have been surprised. After all, Jesus had repeatedly told them that on the third day He would rise.
Here we find a problem that we all suffer from. All too often we hear words but not meaning. Why? Because our minds are set. We know what we or our "group" believes. And those beliefs provide the framework in which we "hear" and interpret new ideas. Conclusions that don't fit into our mental frameworks we generally misunderstand if not reject.
You and I suffer from the same hearing problem as the disciples.
Open our ears, O Lord, that we might truly hear and be prepared for those events yet to come in the working out of Your great plan.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hand of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered his words. Luke 24:1-8, RSV.
They had a job to do and they knew it. Jesus had died late on Friday afternoon and there had been no time to prepare His body properly for burial before the Sabbath arrived. The body had merely been wound in linen and placed on a shelf, after which someone rolled the stone in front of the door and the Roman soldiers sealed it, with the Jewish leaders standing by to see that it was done correctly.
But the burial job had not been completed. The linen from the body would have to be unwound and rewound as they placed the spices into the folds of the winding sheet.
With that task in mind, some of the women arrived carrying the spices, presumably the ones purchased by Nicodemus. The last thing they expected was an empty tomb. Obviously they had not gone to the tomb while saying to themselves, "Well we have some spices just in case He is still dead, but we really think He is alive again." To the contrary. The women knew the basic fact of life that dead people remained that way.
But the empty tomb shifted their thinking, their immediate task, and their lives. Yet they shouldn't have been surprised. After all, Jesus had repeatedly told them that on the third day He would rise.
Here we find a problem that we all suffer from. All too often we hear words but not meaning. Why? Because our minds are set. We know what we or our "group" believes. And those beliefs provide the framework in which we "hear" and interpret new ideas. Conclusions that don't fit into our mental frameworks we generally misunderstand if not reject.
You and I suffer from the same hearing problem as the disciples.
Open our ears, O Lord, that we might truly hear and be prepared for those events yet to come in the working out of Your great plan.
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