After the resurrection, two disciples are walking on the road to a place called Emmaus. As they walk, the resurrected Christ joins them, incognito. They don’t recognize him, nor should they, as they are certain that he is dead.
He asks them what is troubling them, and they begin to tell them about their confusion over what has transpired in Jerusalem. They were followers of a man named Jesus, who they had believed to be the Messiah. But this man has lately been arrested, tried, beaten to a pulp and then crucified most horrifically. A suffering and dying man definitely did not fit the profile of the Deliverer they were expecting. And yet, there were rumors that the tomb that kept his body has now been discovered to be empty.
Jesus, still incognito, takes the opportunity to explain the whole Old Testament to them and how it testifies to the Messiah and what he would be like. (Wouldn’t you have loved to hear that?) But what struck me was the question that Jesus asks them: “Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory.” (24.26)
In other words, the pattern is suffering first, then glory. We want the glory now. But the path of the Messiah is suffering first, and then glory. It is also the path that we will walk if we follow him. Suffering first, then glory. Cross precedes crown. Pain precedes Prize.
If we can expect suffering, then we need a backbone, perseverance, thick skin, so that we will not fall away upon encountering adversity.
If we can expect glory, then we need a soft and ready heart that is filled with hope. Because glory like resurrection comes out of suffering as deep as crucifixion.
If the pattern is suffering, then glory, we need thick skin and a soft heart. We need stubborn perseverance and unshakeable hope.
Lord, give me thicker skin so that I am not so quickly offended and overthrown by hardship. And give me a soft heart that is always ready to hope that with God, nothing is impossible. Amen.
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