They Didn't Know

Our church choir has been working very hard on our Easter musical. Our performance is this coming Sunday evening, so this week is full of practices, and last minute polishing to make sure we are ready to present this awesome message. One of the songs in the musical is called, “They Didn’t Know…” It talks about how the people surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion didn’t know why He was there.

I have thought a lot about that song. The disciples didn’t know that Jesus wasn’t here to be an earthly king. The crowds at the triumphal entry didn’t know He wasn’t here to save them from Roman oppression. The priests and religious leaders of the day didn’t know He was not only representing the God they claimed to serve, but that He actually WAS that very God. The Romans didn’t know He wasn’t a criminal. Nobody knew that He would only be in the grave for three days. The list goes on and on and on.

The truly tragic point in all of this is that these people didn’t know, because they didn’t hear and understand what Jesus said during His time here. He told them that He was from the Father, and one with the Father. He told them He came to seek and to save the lost. He told them He would die, and be raised again, in three days. He told them, and they didn’t listen. They knew what they knew, and nothing else mattered. Even after some of their companions came with the report of actually seeing Jesus alive, they didn’t believe. I cannot begin to imagine the rollercoaster of emotions the people surrounding Jesus felt the last week of His life: the elation when they thought He would be crowned a king – the confusion when He talked about dying – the despair when they saw Him hanging on the cross – and the jubilation when, at last, they finally realized that HE WAS RISEN!

I completely identify with those people. My mind was made up, and I didn’t want to be confused with the facts. I completely ignored the studies linking diabetes, high blood pressure, the risks of heart attack and stroke, sleep apnea, and a multitude of other ailments to obesity. Surely, those things don’t apply to me! But despite my denial, they DID apply to me. I was killing myself – largely because I didn’t want to believe the facts. Do I regret that? I do, with every fiber of my being. But at the same time, I am thrilled that I have finally “seen the light” and the error of my ways. Ignorance is not an excuse, especially when I have the information within reach.