How could they be so dense?  Were they not listening?  

I get frustrated with my college students when they ignore several lectures,  illustrations on the classroom white board, written instructions in a course packet that gives step-by-step directions and warnings of what NOT to do, and then turn in a paper that defies all of this.  There isn’t a term that goes by that I don’t shake my head in complete bewilderment.  (This often gets mixed with some guilt that I am actually doing them harm by “moly-coddling” them in giving second chances - which my professors never gave me, when I was a student.)  

If I can become so irritated, how must Jesus have felt about matters of far greater consequence.  After His resurrection, when Jesus walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus appears to show frustration with them.  Look what He says in Luke 24.

Luke 24:25-27 (ESV) 
²⁵  And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.  

In last week’s sermon, I mentioned that we have come to a transition in Luke’s Gospel.  Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem.  He had already been telling His disciples with exactness that He must suffer and die there, but then be raised from the dead. Jesus will deliver this message 9 more times before “Passion Week” begins.  

Once it happened to Jesus precisely how He said that it would, why were His followers so confused?  How could they be so dense?  Were they not listening?  

But actually, I am just as dense (if not more.)   And not to be insulting, but perhaps you are too. 

Whenever I begin to question why God doesn’t seem to answer prayer (either He remains silent or He gives a different answer than I had hoped) I am no different than they were.  God’s people wanted deliverance from oppression. They wanted a Messiah. They wanted a Savior. Then that Messiah came. That Messiah told them that He was there to deliver them. That Messiah triumphantly entered Jerusalem as the prophecies had foretold. And then that Messiah was brutally murdered.

I think Jesus’ disciples in the aftermath of the crucifixion, as the sun rose on the Sabbath day and their conquering Messiah lay cold and dead in the grave, they must have wondered: Is this the answer to our prayers? What had happened to the promise of victory? When are we going to receive the deliverance we have been promised?

The Sabbath day came and went. And then they came to the first day of the week and an angelic messenger telling them, “He is not here, but has risen.” The fog began to lift.

What Jesus would accomplish made little sense to them when He described it in advance; what He was accomplishing made little sense while He endured it; what He had accomplished became clear only when they could look back on it. They just needed to wait. It all became clear in time.

With this in mind, I am inviting you to join me in obeying what Jesus told His followers in Luke 10:2.

Luke 10:2 (ESV) 
²  And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Look unto the fields of La Pine.  The harvest is ready.  There is more to do than we have the human resources to accomplish.  Pray that the Lord of the Harvest (God– it is His job) will send forth harvesters to work among us.