Seeing Is Believing

Around Easter time every year, most Christian are drawn to re-read and reflect on the Resurrection of Jesus.  I have spent some time over the last few weeks pondering John 20.  The theme of this chapter seems to be what was seen.  In verse 1, Mary Magdalene "saw" the stone was rolled away.  In verse 5, John "looked" at the empty grave clothes and verse 6, Peter also "saw" the neatly folded strips of linen and the folded burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. 

At least two more times, the chapter refers to seeing.  In verses 8, and 11, both Mary and John saw an empty tomb.  The impact of the empty tomb must have been tremendous.  As hard as it was to watch their beloved Savior die, how much more upsetting was it now to not know where His body has gone.  But what struck me is the differences in their reactions to what they saw.  The account says, Mary saw and wept.  But John saw and believed.  Two people, both very much impacted by the life and love of the Son of God, both in the same situation, both given the same realization, but two very different responses.

To Mary, the empty tomb meant confusion, grief, desperation--even to the point that she seemed unfazed by the appearance of angels and later did not recognize Jesus, Himself. 

The Bible says John saw and believed, even though he did not understand (verse 9).  To him, the empty tomb meant hope--hope that something great has happened or will be the result of what has happened.  He believed that Jesus was in control of this situation, therefore, John was at peace with what he saw.

This past Sunday, my Sunday School teacher said the following profound statement, almost as an afterthought (she probably doesn't even remember saying it because it was said off the cuff), but as soon as she said it, it got my attention and I wrote it down.  She said, "It is more important to believe than to understand".  Let that settle for a minute.  We always want to understand what has happened, what is going to happen, what is the result of what has happened.  We want to understand why an event was allowed to rock our world.  We want to understand how long are we going to be affected by this event.  But John, when given the same information as Mary, SAW AND BELIEVED, without understanding.

When our world experiences a personal earthquake, be it a tremor (flat tire) or massive 8.9-magnitude quake, like the one that hit northeast Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011 (sudden death of loved one), we can choose to  be wrought with confusion and desperation, demanding God to help us understand "why" and "what does this mean".  Or we can see and believe that God is in control, we are in His Hands, and we can trust Him.