Extra Steps

I was sitting in church this morning (other stories about that to follow), reading the scripture passage along with the pastor, when I had one of those moments of revelation that you can't make happen. You know the ones - the moments when you sees something again for the first time. Those moments when something you've read a thousand times suddenly strikes you in a new way - something clicks in your brain - and you see it completely differently. The pastor was reading from John 20, when Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors after the resurrection:

"On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!'" (John 20:19)

At first what struck me was that of all the things Jesus could have said to them in that moment, he blessed them with peace. He could have said anything at all, but his words were wishing them peace. Of course, he was probably doing this as a way of saying, "Hey, guys. Calm down. It's just me." But I think he wished peace on them in that moment, too, because it was just that important to him that they be in peace. That was a big part of what he had died for just three days earlier, after all.

I confess, though, that my mind wandered to some degree during the message, and I read over some of the earlier parts of Chapter 20, particularly this:

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance." (John 20:1)

Again, this was obviously something I had read before. The basic content was nothing new to me. However, the revelation I had when I read it was new.

What, did you think Jesus had to roll the stone away from the entrance to get out? He didn't need to move it to get out! He moved it for our benefit!

Really. Think about it. Later that same evening, Jesus appeared to the disciples behind locked doors. This is God in the flesh! He doesn't need to come through a door to get into a room! He'll go wherever He wants to go! He rolled the stone away so that we could see that He had risen. He rolled the stone away so that we would know what had happened.

I think He hoped Mary would get it. I think He hoped she would see the empty tomb and remember what He had said not so long ago:

"From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (Matthew 16:21)

He thought she might remember, because He had said that to help her understand. He said that for her and for the disciples, so that when this moment of confusion and bewilderment came, they would be able to make sense of it all, feeling not fear but peace.

She didn't remember, though, and I can almost imagine that Jesus shook His head and smiled at her, almost in amusement. "Mary," He said. The familiarity of His voice as it spoke her name was all she needed - she recognized Him and cried out in joy. (I remember times when my own parents have looked at me in this way as I wept over something that I was sure would be the end of my world. Knowing better, they would nod understandingly but speak their wisdom into my heart in an attempt at calming me. Sometimes all they would have to say is my name: "Jessica," they would say, and I would take a deep breath and begin to come to my senses. In their wisdom they knew that my world was not, in fact, going to end. In their love for me, they wanted to help me see the same, but the first thing they had to do was help me to calm down.)

The thing about this story is that Jesus knows us just that well. He knew all along that we would need help wrapping our minds around all that He is. He knew it so well that He made every effort to teach in a way that might help us understand, using parables and illustrations that relate to our lives here on earth to help it all seem less mysterious. He knew we couldn't grasp it all. He knew we had never seen anything like what He showed us, and He knew that we would need some help. It was for that reason, I think, that He rolled the stone away. Had the tomb remained closed, Mary and the others might never have believed that He wasn't in there. Had He not allowed them to see with their own eyes that He was no longer entombed there, they might never have made the connection when He appeared to them later that day. Certainly, He didn't NEED to roll the stone away in order to emerge from the tomb. In fact, I am almost certain that He didn't leave the tomb by the same door which brought Him in!

Jesus knows us. He knows that even when we want so badly to understand it all, we can't quite get it. He knows we need some help.

And - because HE wants us to get it, too - He is willing to take those extra steps to help us get it. He doesn't do so much that He removes all mystery and intrigue from His story, but He helps us out just enough that we can grasp it. He helps us understand just enough so that it can begin to change our lives, and works within us until our completion that we might one day understand it all.

I'm so thankful that it means that much to Him that we understand. I'm so glad that He cared enough to take those extra steps, and I'm so amazed that I mean that much to Him.