Fools and Slow of Heart to Believe – Luke 24
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:” — Luke 24:25
Luke 24 is both an exciting and frustrating chapter. Exciting because Jesus is risen. Frustrating because His disciples won’t believe.
The reason for their unbelief is not due to a lack of evidence or Scriptural support. As matter of fact, if they had paid close attention to the Old Testament scriptures and to the words of Jesus, they would have known that Jesus was going to rise again.
- When the women did not find Christ’s body in the tomb, the angels said, “remember how he spake unto you” (v.6).
- When these women return to the disciples, they completely dismissed their report as an “idle tale and…believed them not” (v.11).
- When Peter saw the empty tomb for himself, he left wondering what had happened (not necessarily believing in the resurrection) (v.12).
- When Cleopas and his friend were joined by Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus rebuked them for being “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (v.25). Then Jesus proceeded to show them from the Old Testament all the things concerning Him (v.27).
- When Jesus personally appeared to the disciples, at first, they thought it was a spirit rather than Christ Himself (v.37). Jesus reminded them that He had already told them about His resurrection when He was with them (v.44). He then showed them from the Scriptures the things that were written about Him and His resurrection (v.44-46).
So, there was plenty in the Scriptures to let the disciples know that Christ would rise again. But the death and resurrection of the Messiah were outside their expectations and ability to believe, so they just ruled the resurrection out and ignored what was written and what Christ said.
As a result, they were afraid and bowed down (v.5), confused (v.12), sad (v.17), terrified and afraid (v.37), troubled and worried (v.38), and without understanding (v.45).
How often we make the same mistake. We don’t really listen to what is written and what Christ says. We see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear, and ignore the rest. As a result, we miss out on so much. I wonder what part of our understanding Christ is wanting to open today? I wonder what Biblical truths we are ignoring and slow to believe?
What we need is already written, already recorded for us in the Bible. It will lift us up, give us clarity, joy, courage, and confidence. We don’t need any more proof or miracles to believe. We just need to believe what is already written about what Christ has already done!