When the Path is a Puzzle

“Back on the road, they set out for Jerusalem. Jesus had a head start on them, and they were following, puzzled and not just a little afraid. He took the Twelve and began again to go over what to expect next.” Mark 10:32

It must have been a dizzying three years for Jesus’ disciples. Within a typical week they might have heard him teach the most amazing concepts about God, turning their preconceptions about religion upside down; seen him heal, raise the dead, along with other miraculous signs; and witnessed the attacks by the religious ruling class on His authority and Jesus’ deft replies.

One thing that didn’t seem to stick is a message He delivered to them personally at least three different times:  “…the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Romans, who will mock and spit on him, give him the third degree, and kill him. After three days he will rise alive.” (Mark 10:33, 34). I’m not sure it would have stuck in my mind either. On the one hand, you are experiencing the glorious power of God through Jesus in His mastery of teaching and miracles. Juxtaposed against that, you hear Him say, “The Son of Man will be mocked, mistreated, killed, and rise again alive.”

It just would not compute. If He is the Messiah, then He simply would not end up dead on a cross. Messiahs win. They do not lose! So, like most times when something doesn’t add up, we accept the most appealing of the options and leave the disturbing notions back in the dark reaches of our mind.

So, the boys are walking behind Jesus toward Jerusalem. They are on their way to His fateful and final week, although they are unaware of the fact. Jesus, however, is aware and alert that He is striding toward His ultimate goal and purpose. He will suffer and be crucified at the hands of both the Jews and Romans, and will rise from the dead three days afterwards.

He is walking ahead of them, perhaps lost in the determination to accomplish His final goal. His mind, will and heart are focused on Jerusalem. Like an athlete in the final moments before the game, Jesus is gearing Himself for the showdown that will bring final reconciliation of this world to God, but not without incredible suffering to Himself.

The disciples walk behind, perhaps catching His determined gait, or noticing the set of His jaw as Jesus moves toward His goal…and they are puzzled. They have seen Him every day for nearly three years now, but there is something different this day about His mood. They cannot put their fingers on it. In fact, their puzzlement turns into fear.

Perhaps they felt the murkiness one experiences following a bad dream in which you remember the mood but cannot recall the details. There is something amiss, something that does not quit fit, something unsettling in this final journey to Jerusalem, and they cannot quite put their fingers on it.

Anyone who chooses to follow Jesus will discover the same sense of puzzlement. Jesus rarely leads us in expected ways. Though His ways are always good, compassionate and kind; they are not predictable. At least not predictable as far as our limited human view. It is easy to become puzzled along the way, almost frightened.

Fortunately for the disciples, and us, Jesus senses their apprehension and takes them aside. Perhaps it was something like turning into the next rest area to explain to the kids why the trip is taking so long. At any rate, Jesus never ignores our fears, even if He has to tell us the same thing He has told us numerous times before.

This time He repeats once more His final destination to the disciples. And, with the same fuzzy thinking we often have as well, in the very next conversation James and John are asking Jesus to save them the best places in the kingdom for them! “Well, if He’s going to die, and rise again, we better make darn sure we get the best seats right away!”

Okay, maybe their motivation wasn’t quite that brash, but it is clear they still didn’t quite understand. But they kept walking, they kept following, and Jesus kept leading.

That is the encouragement for me in this little verse about the disciples and Jesus on the road that day. Jesus was not behaving the way they were used to and it caused them puzzlement and alarm. But they kept following. Jesus explained the next few steps (as he already done), and though it may not have exactly gone in one ear and out the other, it is clear they didn’t fully grasp the meaning. But Jesus kept leading and they kept following.

We will not always have the answers while we follow Christ. It is not that He is secretive about anything when it comes to His relationship with us. It is more about our dullness and incomprehension. But, if we keep following, stay on the road with Him, eventually the particulars will fall into place more and more.

Is the road a puzzle right now? Keep following Jesus, He always leads to the best place for our souls.