One of the comforting things about the Gospel narrative is how slow Jesus’ disciples are in getting the good news of Jesus. From Mark’s perspective, the disciples never quite get it, even at the resurrection. Matthew suggests the same thing. Luke tells us that things really didn’t click until Pentecost, and even then, the apostles didn’t always run on all twelve Gospel cylinders. There were misfires and mistakes. I’m comforted by the disciples’ slowness because I recognize the same thing at work in me.

This was the second time the disciples heard Jesus speak of His death and resurrection. “The Son of Man must be handed over into the hands of men, be killed, and they will kill Him, and after He is killed, He will rise again after three days.” There was no mistaking what Jesus was saying, as He taught His disciples on their way through Galilee. There was no mysteries, no riddles, no parables. Plain and simple. Jesus was about to die and rise. And the amazing thing is that the disciples didn’t get it. They did not comprehend this. In spite of everything Jesus has taught them. In spite of His miracles, His power over diseases and the demonic. In spite of the vision on the mountain where Jesus’ divinity shone like the sun through His humanity, they could not accept His death and resurrection.

The highest form of fellowship is at the table, to eat and drink together. Candlelight dinners. Power lunches. Wedding receptions. Funeral receptions. Thanksgiving dinner. Christmas dinner. Easter dinner. “Let’s do lunch.” The early church always ate together as part of their gathering. Whether in work or play or worship, to eat together is to have fellowship with one another, to have something in common, a common meal together at a common table.

On my trip to Russia a couple of years ago, I immediately noticed who popular cellular phones were. As soon as we landed in Moscow and cleared customs, I immediately noticed cell phones everywhere. People walking in the airports. People driving in cars. People sitting at outdoor cafes or on park benches. All of them talking feverishly into their cell phones. The man who was sent to the airport to pick us up promptly called in our arrival on his cell phone. I asked our host, a vicar serving in Moscow, about this. He laughed. “Oh, everyone has one. Some don’t even work. People want to be seen talking into a cell phone. It means you’re somebody, you’re important.”

Jesus prays for His Church. This is the key to the Church’s survival. This is what has kept the Church going for the last two-thousand years. The Church has survived persecution, false teaching, and some of the grossest mismanagement in recorded history. Any human organization would have long gone under and disappeared, but the Church goes on. It has survived popes and councils and voters meetings. It has survived hostile governments and friendly governments. It has survived dictatorships, demagogues, and democracies.