John H. Paterson
WHEN it comes to dealing with spiritual things, there is a great difference believing and understanding. I mean this not only in the sense that, when things become difficult for the Christian, he or she will say, "I don't understand, but I believe the Lord means it for good, and I trust Him." Many of us know that experience. Rather I mean that it is quite possible to believe in the Lord Jesus, and yet totally mis-understand His ways.
In recently re-reading the Gospels I have been struck by the truth of that statement where Jesus' disciples were concerned. They provide the best example of how one could have a growing faith, culminating in the acknowledgement that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and the Messiah, and even have a daily contact with Him, but without any real grasp of the meaning of the events and the words which they witnessed.
This was apparent, in the first place, in the questions which they asked Jesus, sometimes cutting right across His train of thought and teaching to do so. For example, in those last, precious few moments which the Lord had with them, and which John recorded in chapters 13-17 of his account, their persistent questioning betrayed an ignorance of what it all meant that must have been intensely saddening to the Lord. A lesser man would have shouted at them, or thrown up his hands in disgust, and asked "Haven't you understood anything that I've taught you?" The Lord Jesus, sad though He may have been, went patiently on, answering their silly questions and then returning to what He wanted to say.
These questions, while they give us some measure of the disciples' ignorance, were at least a frank admission of what they did not understand. What I find particularly interesting, however, is the frequency with which they thought they did understand -- but were wrong! Time and again they acted, or made suggestions for action, evidently confident that they would meet with Jesus' approval, only to be rebuked, or disregarded, or put right.
They must sometimes have felt utterly baffled like children who think their parents will be pleased when they pick all the flowers in father's garden, and are astonished that their offering is not appreciated! What the disciples were reduced to was trying to guess: would He be pleased with them or not? [73/74]
Let me refer to a few examples of this guessing game that went wrong. There was the time (Luke 9:52-56) when Jesus and His disciples were not welcomed in a Samaritan village, and James and John wanted to call down fire to avenge the insult to their Master. "But he turned and rebuked them, and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." In the next chapter (Luke 10:17-20), we have the story of how the seventy whom He had sent out to preach "returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Surely, they could be happy about that? No! "In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
Then there was the occasion (Matthew 19:13-15; cf. Mark 10:13-14) when little children were brought to Him, and the disciples were doing a splendid job of shielding the Lord from unnecessary pressure. They were doing what good secretaries nowadays are supposed to do -- making sure that the manager's time is not wasted by visitors who are not bona fide customers! But they were wrong again: He wanted the children to come.
Then there was the sternest of all His rebukes recorded in three Gospels, when Peter took it upon himself to tell Jesus His own business: "Peter took him, and began to rebuke him saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee" (Matthew 16:22, etc.) Peter obviously felt that, if Jesus did not know what was good for Him then he, Peter, would see to it that He learned!
