Knowledge + Experience = Understanding

While reading the last chapter of Luke today, I was once again reminded of how easy it is to know something without understanding it at all. This is the chapter where we are introduced to the risen Jesus. It it the Sunday, after His crucifixion.
In the opening passage, we visit the grave along with the women who went there to embalm Jesus' body. They find the grave empty and are perplexed by this. Then two angels appear to them and inform them that they are searching for Jesus in the wrong place. Why would a living person be among the dead? That is when they remind the women that they had been neglecting something they already knew. They remind them that Jesus had told them in as many words that He would have to die, but that He would rise from the dead. Jesus had said this on numerous occasions to a vast number of His followers. This knowledge was not hidden. It was no Godly secret that would only be revealed after Jesus had risen from the grave. This was common knowledge among His followers.
Yet, when the women rush to the disciples and other followers where they were gathered together, and shared this newfound information with them, they were met with disbelief. Only Peter ran to the grave to check the facts for himself. That is not faith, that is doubt, mixed with a little bit of hope, seeking confirmation.
Jesus then meets the men on their way Emmaus. Essentially, we have a repetition of the same inability to comprehend the facts that they had been told beforehand. Confronted with the risen Jesus, these men are confounded. Jesus needs to remind them of their fore-knowledge of His death and resurrection. We find Jesus explaining how the prophecies of old had been fulfilled in Him, and had foretold these events.
So, why is it that these men and women, who walked with Jesus, ate with Him, and socialized with Him, had such a complete inability to understand the knowledge He had shared with them? I put it down to a lack of experience. They had very little experience of people returning from the dead. They had seen Jesus raise a few people, but with Him gone, so were there hopes of ever seeing these miracles again. And how could Jesus perform another such miracle after He had been killed Himself? In their experience, people stopped all actions, including miracles, after they died.
Jesus now introduces a new experience to them. He introduces them His own risen self. He introduces them to a death that has been conquered. The wages of sin are death, as taught and introduced by the story of Adam and Eve. Yet, the wages of sin had now been paid by the blood of Christ, flowing for the forgiveness of all sin, into perpetuity. Jesus introduces them to the concept of eternal life, which can only be found in Himself.
It is when they experience the risen Jesus, Who had conquered death, paid the wages of sin, 'earned' the right to dole out free pardons, and forgives anyone who accepts Him, it is only then that what they knew, and what they experienced, lines up to give them understanding. Now, what was said by the prophets, make sense. Now, what Jesus had foretold, make sense. Now, their own experiences make sense.
You may know of Jesus, but without allowing yourself to experience Him, these words and concepts can never make sense. If it is understanding you crave, you need to open more than just your mind, you need to open your heart and life. Jesus is as alive today as He was on the day of His resurrection, and He is still as actively busy seeking out contact with believers, as He was on the day He traveled to Emmaus, met the disciples in the room, and appeared to them on the beach where they were fishing. Where will He find you when He comes to seek you out?

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
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