Resurrection Means Reorientation

Poor Thomas! He has gotten a bad rap as a doubter (John 20:24-29) when all he was trying to do was wrap his head around a new perspective. How can a person move from one way of thinking to a completely different way of thinking? Thomas was being asked to move from "Jesus was crucified and is dead" to "Jesus is alive!" That's not an easy thing to do!

Can you imagine the kind of reorientation - the kind of shift in thinking - Jesus' resurrection required of the disciples?

• a different understanding of what they thought Jesus was going to do as the messiah
• a different understanding of the messiah's role
• a different understanding of Jesus' death
• a different understanding of who they were and of their role as Jesus' disciples
• a different understanding of how power is used
• a different understanding of suffering 
• a different understanding of what determines value and significance and greatness
• a different understanding of God
• a different understanding of what God was doing in/through the nation of Israel
• a different understanding of Israel's role as God's chosen people
• a different understanding of others, including the hated Romans and the despised Samaritans
• a different understanding of the resurrection.

You might say the disciples had to rethink everything from the perspective of the resurrection. 

This radical shift in thinking is precisely what is involved in being a follower of Jesus. We move from thinking from a what's-in-it-for-me perspective to thinking from a what-is-God-doing perspective, from a self-oriented perspective to a God-oriented perspective, from what can I gain to what can I give, from me-and-mine to ours. Our orientation shifts from my needs, wants, and desires to something bigger than me. It's like shifting from "the sun revolves around the earth" to "the earth revolves around the sun." Complete reorientation - a radical shift in thinking. It throw us off balance initially while aligning us with Divine Truth.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways, my ways, says the LORD" (Isaiah 5:8).

This shift in thinking is an on-going process. It lies at the the heart of the spiritual journey. Paul spoke of it as the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). It is what leads to a shift in how we live and what we do. We learn to live with the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5).

And that's not necessarily an easy thing to do!