Slow of Heart to Believe

After Jesus' death and resurrection, there were two disciples who were distressed about all the events they had witnessed.  The explained as much to a stranger they met on the road to Emmaus.  They were unsure about Jesus' death at the hand of the Romans and the Jewish leadership, because they believed Him to be the promised Messiah.  They were distraught about all the people had turned against such an obviously popular teacher.  Beyond all this, they were confused about the reports by some women that Jesus' tomb had been empty after three days. (Luke 24:13-24)

The stranger, who we know was Jesus, chided the two men for their unbelief, not because the events were not what they seemed, but that they had not expected these events based on scripture.  “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”  (Luke 24:25-27)  While this rebuke is harsh to our ears, we need to ask ourselves if we are are just as foolish and slow to believe.  The reason that Jesus was so strong in his language is they had the proof with them all along.  "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."

When Jesus finally revealed Himself to the rest of the disciples, He again provided them with the full message of scripture. “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44-45)  Jesus did not provide new information to them, but showed them how to appropriately make the application of the scriptures to Jesus, His life and His service to all human beings.

If these disciples were judged foolish and slow to believe when they only had access to the promises, and not the records of their fulfillment, what will He say to us who have both Testaments old, and new?  What responsibility falls on our shoulders to make full use of the entirety of scripture as revealed by God to bolster our faith?  What a great opportunity we have to see the whole tapestry of salvation that has been weaved by God since the beginning of time, and yet we often treat is so lightly.

So often we fall short on matters that require faith, and we fail to prepare the next generation to grow in theirs.  More often than ever, people choose to identify as having no faith at all, and how much of that is due to the fact that we are ignorant of God’s word?  If the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms were enough to produce the necessary faith in the disciples to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, how much more powerful should they be when read in conjunction with the Gospels, church history, and epistles?  What a blessing we have, if we would only take advantage.
 

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