Thursday, January 13, 2005

But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee (Matthew 26:32).

Galilee: the place where Jesus started his ministry, and where he first called disciples. He promises that he will meet his disciples there following his resurrection.
I used to fantasize about going back to an earlier point in my life, retaining my adult perspective and the knowledge of how things would work out. How interesting it would be to live through fourth-grade and onward, for example, knowing what I know now! Jesus implores his disciples to go back to the place where the story began, this time with knowledge and experience of his resurrection. Where formerly all had seemed uncertain and dangerous, and the foreboding of His death an inpenetrable obstacle, now they would view all the ups and downs in light of their glorious fulfillment.
Once you’ve read the Old Testament, and seen how it culminates in Jesus, you can never read the Old Testament in the same way again. Jesus appears on every page. Once you have seen the resurrection, even Galilee is filled with light (Matthew 4:15, 16).
Make it a habit to read Scripture over and over again, from beginning to end. The story does not change, but Christ and His resurrection come to permeate our reading of it more and more, lifting up, as it were, the valleys into plains, the plains into hills, and the hills into heaven.

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