Beyond Limits
Sometimes it takes more than an education for us to truly understand.
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. - Luke 24:36-53
Wisdom is harder to achieve than intellect.
They say that wisdom comes with age, that it is the culmination of life experiences resulting in a view of the world that guides our thinking and our choices.
Intellect is the knowledge we acquire and consciously store in our brains. It is what we rely on to solve problems and put pieces together, to reason.
Jesus knew that his friends had learned all he taught them, but he also knew that their view of the world was limited.
They needed to see the impossible to be able to grasp what could not be seen or touched. He came back to them in the flesh to show them the limits they impose on themselves.
We do this too.
We impose limits all the time, believing in what is reasonable and rational, rather than what we perceive to be impossible.
Until we believe the impossible is possible, we will never see it. We will never strive for it.
I think Jesus is showing us every day that there are things we fail to see, options we fail to choose, because we lack the understanding of what is truly possible.
If we wait until we are sure of the outcome, we may miss the chance to make a real difference.
If we believe the impossible is possible, who knows how far we can go?
More to come...