Grieving, or Glad?

We are approaching the time of year when we give special
attention to the events that took place 1,970 years ago. This attention is
given by Christians at this time because by these events we have received
forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the sanctified.

The three events were Jesus’ crucifixion, His burial, and
His resurrection.

“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. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’” (Matthew 16:21-22).

“When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, ‘The
Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him,
and on the third day he will be raised to life.’ And the disciples were filled
with grief” (Matthew 17:22-23).

Peter rebuked Him, then later the disciples were filled with
grief. Jesus had just told them twice that He would rise from the dead.
Why would anyone grieve over someone who is going to rise from the dead? They
wouldn’t, unless they had not heard it. They had only heard Him say that He
would be killed. They had quit listening.    

Some years ago, I was driving to a conference near Sun
Valley, Idaho. A half an hour from home, I realized I had not had enough
breakfast. I stopped for gasoline. I also bought a pint of chocolate milk. I
put the milk in the cup holder and drove off. About a mile down the road, there
was a little man hitchhiking. I pulled over to pick him up. When he got into
the car, he was very grateful. He was going to Grangeville (a few hours away)
to find a mobile home cheap enough for his mother to live in. Mobile homes were
too expensive in Portland where he was from.

When I asked about his family, he said that his father left
him when he was a few months old. If he ever found his father, he would sit him
down, buy him a beer, and ask him why he had left him. If the father came up
with an adequate answer, the son would forgive him. By his manner, I could tell
that he did not anticipate finding his father or forgiving him.

“Any family”? Yes, he had had a wife but she had left him
for his best friend and had taken their 8-month-old daughter with her.

Soon he opened his backpack to get a bottle of eye drops and
began putting drops in his eyes. When queried, he explained that he had
glaucoma.

This short history had me aching for him: 21 years old with
glaucoma, no wife, no daughter, no father, and a poverty-stricken mother. I
asked him if he had ever been to church. Yes, once. He was impressed; they had
talked about the Bible and did not ask for money. I told him that was the kind
of church I was in. He pulled out a dollar bill and said, “When we stop for a
pop, you can have the change.” I realized these things: 1) He wanted a pop very
much. 2) The dollar was the only money he had. And 3) he had been hitchhiking
all night and had not had any breakfast.

I said, “If you are hungry, you may have that chocolate
milk.” He drank it down very fast and then said, “You can have the whole
dollar.”

Then the conversation went something like this:

“Do you read the Bible?” He reached into his backpack and
pulled out a little red paper Gospel of John published by Moody Press.

“Do you read that?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?” Some sort of
affirmative.

“Do you believe that He died for your sins?” Affirmative
again.

“Do you believe that He arose from the dead?” He looked at
me hard and said, “No! No! I never heard that one!”

“Please read the last three chapters of your little red
book.”

He laboriously read those chapters. When he had finished, he
looked up and said, “That’s amazing, that’s amazing!” He had never heard of the
resurrection.

“After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The
disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20).

Have you listened, heard, and seen?

Are you grieving, or are you glad?