"Then They Remembered"

So…

Then they remembered!

The other day I was watching the Magnolia Networks TV show Family Table, with Andrew Zimmerman where he joins a family for their special family dinner.

The episode was about a Chinese family who talked about all the dishes they were making for the dinner, and the mother mentioned how one time while explaining how to make the dish to her adult daughters, she remembered.

She said it was such a strange experience to realize that in explaining the one ingredient they needed to have to put in the dish, her mind suddenly traveled back to her childhood and her responsibility to go and get the ingredient from the market.

She said that until that moment, she had completely forgotten about those journeys to and from, and her being an essential part of the dish, because the family needed her and wanted her to go and get the one thing that would make the dish all that it could be.

Then they remembered.

Jesus’ ministry among them had been amazing! Each and every disciple had been touched by what Jesus said and did. 

Each of them had their own stories about how Jesus had healed them, challenged them, called them, and called them out at times.

How Jesus had loved them, showed them amazing things, invited them into an intimate relationship that changed them absolutely.

And it’s the same on the TV show called The Chosen some of us have been watching on Sunday nights. 

It has been showing us all the possible ways Jesus related uniquely to each of his disciples, not only the twelve, but literally to each and every person he met.

It didn’t matter if they followed him or became a disciple, or one of the twelve, just meeting him changed them all.

Some of them became fully alive in Jesus’ presence, some of them crumpled and became less.

But just being with Jesus, hearing Jesus, seeing Jesus’ ministry of healing and preaching and presence brought change.

But it was a lot, just like for us in our encounters with Jesus, with God, the Father, with the Holy Spirit, we are changed, transformed, but sometimes we also get overwhelmed.

We get so caught up in what is happening that we don’t see all of what is happening. 

Kind of like being so excited about all the energy we have and all that we are getting done while forgetting that we ran out of decaf and the reason we are going 900 miles an hour is because we are now way over our caffeine limit!

Or watching our team come from behind with an amazing performance while knowing nothing about the inspiring speech the coach gave about being diagnosed with cancer in the locker room at half time.

We see, we hear, we acknowledge, we do what we understand while not really understanding.

Then they remembered.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women were the ones who had gone to the tomb.

If you have ever wondered whether there were women who followed Jesus, who listened to his teaching and saw the miracles and understood who Jesus was, let your mind and heart be opened to this word from Luke’s gospel.

Because the angel knew!

And he could say to them with full confidence that they would stand in udder shock and amazement when he said to them, “Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, ‘The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.’”

The angel knew that now was the moment when they would see and hear and understand!

Jesus was not dead. And…that…changed…everything!
We could, if we were like that, give a good ribbing to those idiot disciples back at the ranch. They didn’t believe the women. I mean, give them some credit, they were being asked to believe the impossible.

But…

Then they remembered. 

Not right away. It took time. It even took Jesus’ time to rattle their cages hard enough that their brains began to see that for the one who raised Lazarus from the tomb, resurrection was not beyond possibility.

But when they did get it – oh how that changed everything.

How about for you?

Have you had your, “Then they remembered…” moment?

That moment when you have come to realize that Jesus has been calling you to come and follow him!

And that his resurrection changes everything!

Then, they remembered!

Amen.