Saturday, April 4

His disciples did not understand these things at first… John 12:16


It is very easy to be critical of the disciples. Though I don’t like the overused term “get it,” clearly the disciples did not “get it” throughout the gospels. And they fail to “get it” as the wild events of Palm Sunday unfold. Or, rather, they “get it” later.

They didn’t get what Jesus was doing, what he was saying. They didn’t get their role in the entire drama.

But here’s the thing—they are us. Through and through the gospels, the disciples are our surrogates. And rather than get worked up over what they, or we, don’t get, we should be assured that they eventually do. The gospels were never written for their own sake, but rather to pass down to generations to follow, with the absolute presumption that it would take hard communal work to comprehend.

It is not so much that we are thick. It is that we are human. So even now, on this day before Palm Sunday as we think about what happens tomorrow and the next seven days, let’s not worry so much about our precise comprehension. Let’s be there to experience things, and trust the Spirit of God to teach us what we need to know.


O God, give us a Spirit of wisdom, that as we approach Jerusalem and Holy Week, we may understand what you would have us understand, and follow where you lead. Amen.

John Wilkinson, Pastor