A Reasonable Explanation

Did you ever find something so hard to believe that you came up with an explanation that made it plausible?

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "You must say, `His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' - Matthew 29:11-13

As this week unfolds, the disciples will learn what the women who went to the tomb already discovered, that Jesus has risen.

But not everyone who hears the tomb is empty believes something miraculous and glorious has occurred.  There has to be an explanation that people will accept, and when none exists, one is created.

We really cannot blame ourselves or others for wanting or needing a way of coming to grips with the unknown.  How many of us find ourselves wondering how the miracles were done?

I was watching a program last night about two doctors who perform cataracts surgery in Burma, restoring the sight to hundreds of people with simple, five minute procedures.  Immediately I thought of Jesus restoring sight to the blind.

We are not at the point yet where the methods we use are the same as those Jesus used, and we will most likely never be able to understand how they worked, but we won't give up trying, will we?

Maybe that's the point.  Maybe we aren't supposed to give up.

Instead of telling ourselves we could never do what he did, perhaps we should try.  We should seek to feed thousands with too few resources, to heal with words and compassion, to live fully as though we will never die.

What better reasonable explanation than to ourselves performing acts of kindness and compassion?

As we make our way through the obstacles and uncertainties of the day, let us remind ourselves that some things defy understanding, and just because they seem impossible, it doesn't mean we shouldn't tackle them.

If we let our tendency to rationalize away what we don't understand control our thinking, we will accomplish nothing, but if we use that curiosity to try to do what we believe we cannot, who knows what we will discover?

So, let's go find a reasonable explanation for the solutions we seek and make them real.

More to come...