Father, I need that connection with You tonight as I sit to write. Clear out the refuse of my heart and brain and fill it to overflowing with You. Amen.
Luke 9:7-9 (<<click to read the passage)
I have to admit that one thing I am drawn to, is the unexplainable. Articles pop up while I am poking around on the web and I regularly check them out – unidentifiable things washing up on beaches, satellite pictures of weird things in weird places, etc. Most of them are explained in a matter of time and other things turn out to be of an iffy nature anyway.
Interestingly enough, in today’s passage “Herod [Antipas] the tetrarch [who governed a portion of Palestine including Galilee and Perea]” came across his own unexplainables. He heard about all that was going on and was “thoroughly perplexed” as to who was behind it all.
Though reality was right before their eyes, imaginations were running wild. The truth that Jesus was the Son of God was so beyond their comprehension that it was easier to come up with all kinds of other crazy ideas.
Many thought that Jesus must be someone who had come back to life, perhaps John the Baptist or another prophet. Some suggested that he was Elijah, the great prophet who had not died but had been taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:1-11). Very few found the correct answer, as Peter did (Luke 9:20). *
But don’t people today struggle to accept Jesus for who He is, as well?
How many times have we heard Him referred to as a good teacher? For some, it is just easier to believe that He didn’t exist at all.
Not too awful long ago, Karen and I enjoyed watching the movie The Case for Christ. It is based on the life of atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel…former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune. As a journalist, he was bound and determined to prove, once and for all that there was no resurrection. Well, he proved something alright! He proved to himself that there was absolutely no way that there wasn’t a resurrection – and his life was changed forever!
All that the Bible has to tell us about Jesus Christ of Nazareth is true. Many throughout the millennia have tried to silence the truth. People like Strobel have attempted to disprove its authenticity…but to no avail! For He is risen! He is risen indeed!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Apr 5th, 2020, Sun, 7:45 pm