What Things
143. What things?
Luke 24:19, “And he said unto them, What things?”
Owners of stores and markets wonder sometimes how their business presents itself to the public. Even after much training and orientation, an unmotivated employee can make an entire multinational company with years of experience look like a band of novices to the public. Fearing this, they send “shoppers” hired by the company to their stores. They are there for the express purpose of reporting how they are doing and how the company appears to the public.
In the story from which our question comes, we see Jesus doing this. We see Him walking along, “shopping” His disciples as if He were a stranger. He held back their recognition of Him facilitating candid responses to His questions.
He asks such a question that the disciples are flabbergasted at the ignorance of this stranger. “Where are you from that you have not heard of the man from Galilee that has turned this whole country upside-down?” “And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?”
Word of what was done in Jerusalem, the life of Jesus and His subsequent execution, must have rung throughout the countryside. The story must have been on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s thoughts over the past three days. You can imagine the conversation at the town well and in the market. “Did you hear about the teacher Joshua?” (Jesus’ name in Hebrew/Aramaic) “He was crucified by the Romans for treason.” Or “…He was crucified for blasphemy!” Everyone probably had his or her own version of the story.
The Pharisees would gladly be giving reasons for His death and spreading stories about how it all came to be. Then there would be pure rumor, having no basis in fact at all, that would spread among the itching ears of Jerusalem. It was a situation ripe for gossip, rumor, and innuendo. But, what was the truth? When, why and how did it all happen?
Even as His discouraged Disciples walked, the Pharisees were plotting a rumor campaign to purport the theft of His body in the night to offset the fact that it was now missing, even under armed guard! How would Jesus check the knowledge and readiness of the disciples with whom He would soon entrust the everlasting Gospel message?
When they asked, “… hast thou not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” And he said unto them, “What things?” “Tell me what things you are talking about.”
“And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
In searching out their knowledge, Christ found their facts to be accurate, but they themselves, discouraged. They had their facts straight, but they were unsure how those facts were to be interpreted. They exposed their doubts when they confessed, “…we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel!” Their voices trailed into mumbles that could be read clearly as, “…but alas, it was not to be.” Christ saw that they were feeling defeated in their hearts for they thought Christ, the “great and mighty Prophet,” was dead. It was as if they were apologizing for the fact that He was unaccounted among them. “…And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.”
These words showed that they had discussed the prophetic sign of Jonah that Jesus had spoken of in earlier days. He had promised that in three days He would rise from the dead. Then, as if to lend some credibility to Christ, they added, “Yes well, women of our company, which were early at the sepulchre, told us an amazing story when they did not find his body, they came saying that he was alive.” But then he adds sadly and reluctantly, “…but we went there and were not able to confirm their story.”
Jesus was unable to take any more of their sadness and lack of faith and said, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things …to enter into his glory? And [then,] beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” At this point He was still unknown to them. They assumed this stranger was a student of the Scriptures and happened to know much about Messiah. They gained encouragement from Him and invited Him to stay with them. He did so. That evening He opened their eyes to who He was and then departed from their sight.
The disciples did not pass their test but they did not fail either. They knew the how and the when but, the why was wrapped in emotion and self-concern and therefore difficult to be fully known. Jesus helped in two ways; He turned them back to the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are an invaluable source for the wavering, doubting, or discouraged Christian.
They offer stable words from God; promises and immutable prophecies that can place disjointed events and facts into an eternal perspective and paint a mural of understanding in the heart of the believer. Sometimes this understanding is not even one that can be related in word, but an underlying knowing that gives comfort in times of doubt.
The other way Christ helped them with their discouragement was by His physical presence. When they asked Him to stay He “…made as though He would have gone further… but they constrained him.” Jesus then changed His plans and stayed with them. Sometimes our presence can be a great encouragement to those who feel left alone.
Sometimes with encouragement, the Lord will stay with us a little longer in our time of doubt and fear, or in the time of embarrassment over our performance on our pop quiz.
So, How Would You Do?
If our Savior wanted to check you out as a possessor of the Gospel message, how much of it could you relate accurately? Do you know who Christ was? Why Christ was? Do you know what things transpired in Jerusalem that day and how they affect you and what effect they have on others?
If Jesus gave you a little pop quiz to see how prepared you are to relate the good news to the world, how would you fare? What “things” do you know about God’s plan of Redemption? Do you know who was responsible for the death of Christ and why? Do you know why He was raised the third day? Do you know how all of this fits into Scripture and fulfills thousands of years of prophecy? Are you sure that your Savior has risen indeed and is now seated at the right hand of the Father on High? Does He live in your understanding and in your heart? Is your way dedicated to Him? Does your heart burn within you as He opens the Scriptures to you?
If Jesus appeared as a stranger and asked of the hope that is in you, could you tell Him of the events that changed your life? Could you give a clear and understandable story of the things in your life that led you to such hope... if He looked at you and asked, “What things?”
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Matthew 12:39-40, “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
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