confidence

“Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.” (Matthew 28:17, The Message)

“ . . . instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20, The Message)

“I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20, The Message)

What was the nature of the disciples’ doubts? Did some of them feel anxious about regarding Jesus as being divine? What was their understanding regarding the Messiah; what had they been taught all of their lives since they were children? Did they understand Messiah to be God, or God’s chosen man (like one of the prophets: Elijah, Moses, etc.)? Certainly if Messiah were merely a man, it would be inappropriate/blasphemous to worship him! And what were they to make of Jesus now? They had seen other men resurrected before—they were men before death and they were men after resurrection (ex: Lazarus). Jesus looked and spoke and behaved no different to them after death and resurrection than he did before. It’s no wonder they were filled with a wide variety of uncertainties and doubts!

Our old ideas, understandings, traditions and expectations are deep set, and they stubbornly dig in their heels when confronted with the new, unimaginable, and inconceivable.   Is this perhaps why Jesus specifically charged them to speak and teach only that which Jesus had commanded them (not a combination of his commands and the teachings and traditions of their youth)? What Jesus was and what he commanded were well outside the traditional religious “box” (that is why he was killed). Was Jesus establishing a crucial distinction between old and new in his charge of his disciples?

How could Jesus give his disciples this charge with confidence, knowing that they were filled with uncertainty and doubt? No doubt, Jesus did believe in his disciples, having faith in and trusting them to do their best. But what was the source of his confidence in them? He knew they would make every mistake in the book, over and over and over again. Jesus’ confidence that his disciples would progress well came from the fact that he knew who he was, what he was and what he was doing. He also knew that he would be with his disciples (past, present and future), directing them every step of the way, moment by moment right up to the end of the age. Jesus has confidence in his disciples because he fully knows his disciples and he fully knows himself.

As a disciple of Jesus, I am thankful and grateful that Jesus knows who he is and what he’s about and that he has confidence that all will be well as he guides my every footstep through all the uncertainties of my life, heart, mind, body and soul.