What We Know

Luke 8:49-56
In this passage Jesus encounters a crowd at the house of a man whose daughter has just died (vs. 49).  When Jesus tells them to have faith, the girl is only sleeping the crowd laughs (vs. 52, 53), because they don't think she is dead or believe she is dead, they KNOW she is dead.  It is a cold, hard, factual reality.  She IS dead, not thought to be dead.  Obviously this draws laughter from the crowd when Jesus says she is only sleeping.  Who is this man that is going against what they know to be true?  Sure, he has done amazing things like healing and feeding, but for this crowd, he has just raised the bar, not only going against what is supposed to be true, but what is absolutely, for sure, without a doubt, known to be true.  And this, of course, is ridiculous and laughable.  People die.  This is how things are, the reality of life on this earth.  And once they are dead they do not come back, everyone knows this, doesn't Jesus?  We are so quick to judge this "foolish" crowd and place ourselves among the believers, along with Jesus and his disciples, believing he can and will raise this girl.  How could they doubt Jesus?  We know we never would.  But haven't we already?  In the following passage Jesus sends out his disciples, telling them to take no provision for their journey, nor make any plans or arrangements ahead of time (9:1-5).  And he makes this same statement to us also (Matthew 6:25-34).  He goes even further, telling us to not only make no provision for yourselves, but also to give away what provision we do have (Luke 14:33), to lose our lives (Luke 9:24), to hate those who are closest to us (Luke 14:26), to avoid earthly treasure and prosperity (Matthew 6:19-21, 19:24; James 5:1), etc.  Does this not go against all that we "know" to be true?  Have we ventured out with Jesus on these commands, or stuck to what we "know" to be true?  Have we forsaken provision and comfort and ease in favor of serving Jesus and advancing the gospel at all costs?  Because Jesus calls us to a life of suffering (Romans 8:17; Philippians 1:29), and hardship for his sake, not ease and comfort like the world desires.  Which side of the crowd would we be on, those that walk according to what they know, or those that walk contradictory to what is known?  The scary thing is that it is made perfectly clear that as Christians, we are not afforded the luxury of walking according to what is known (II Corinthians 5:7).  If we walk according to what is known, we have sincerely and completely missed it to the point that Jesus labels us as hypocrites (Luke 12:54-56).  Hypocrites we are if we walk according to what is known.  Do we believe this?  We would say "yes" of course, because Jesus said it and I believe in Jesus.  Well, look at your life.  Does it not betray your confession?  Are we not quick to "amen" this and just as quick to forsake it?  It is made crystal clear that those who truly belong to God will walk by faith (Habakkuk 2:4), as Paul reminded those in Galatia (Galations 3).  If we prefer to walk according to what we know and can see then Jesus is of no use to us, neither is Christianity, and God is nowhere to be found in that (Hebrews 11:6).  It is when we walk contrary to sight, relying and trusting in God alone that we show forth his glory and goodness, not when we live just as the lost world does, according to our judgements.  This is not only spoken against, but it is sinful (Romans 14:23).  This crowd laughed at Jesus because he went against their "common sense", what they knew to be reality.  A synonym for "laughed at" is "to mock".  They mocked Jesus because of his statement and stance, the same language used in the crucifixion scene.  When we decide to walk according to what we "know" we show ourselves to be hypocritical, sinful, and we mock the Son of God.  It is time to stop our hypocrisy; to stop claiming faith in Christ while living according to our own judgements and common sense, abandoning the very faith we claim to have, and start walking "foolishly" telling people that their dead children will live again.