The ‘Eyes’ Have It – Or Do They?

“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,

the chief priests and the teachers of the law,

and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Matthew 16:21

Could there exist any greater contrast between what was spoken and what happened at the crucifixion of Christ?

The disciples had been plainly told by Jesus what would take place.

But it would seem that the words He spoke to them could not compete with the stark reality of His betrayal, arrest, suffering and crucifixion.

It was as if the bleakness of their situation was able to blot out even the brightest rays of hope.

The one they had followed for three years was suddenly and violently taken from them.

How could they dare to consider the events that would shortly take place?

The struggle they faced is a struggle we too will face in life.

The greatest struggle of Easter for the disciples and the greatest struggle of our ‘easter’ is this – To believe in what Jesus said instead of in believing what you see.

It’s not that our eyes deceive us, rather it is that we place a greater trust in what they show us than we do in the words of God.

Reality becomes what is visible with our eyes instead of what is spoken by the Lord, when in fact it ought to be just the opposite.

Nothing is more real, more true and more eternal than the Word of God.

The Apostle Thomas learned that lesson after first doubting its’ truth.

May we learn from that account and place our trust in His words and not in what we see.