Today we see Jesus telling about his future death, burial, resurrection and ascension. It seems to us that this should all make perfect sense to the disciples. After all, they have been with Jesus. He has talked about being given over to sinful men to die. He has talked about the fact that he is in fact God incarnate. He really has not made any secret of his identity or plans around his disciples. Now he tells them quite plainly what he is going to do. What's the result? The disciples are first confused but afraid to ask for clarification. Jesus clarifies anyway. Now the disciples say they understand everything. Our Lord and Savior disputes that claim. As we will read later, he is quite right.
How many times have we failed to understand what our Lord is doing, even though he has told us? How many times have we wondered whether his will is really for our good? How many times have we questioned his providence on our account? How many times have we said, as the people of Israel complained to Moses, that surely God is leading us out into a wilderness to abandon or kill us? The Lord is so very clear about what he is doing. He leaves us with no reason to doubt. Yet our nature is to doubt. Is that also something Jesus died for and lives to forgive? It most certainly is. No matter what our fear, no matter what our doubt, no matter how we are scattered, we can have confidence that it is no surprise to our Lord. We are not scattered out of his loving sight or care. And he is quite able to care for us, protect us, gather us, forgive us, and bring us to be with him.
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