What a bunch of idiots.

But there's more to the story. Thank God.

“What a bunch of idiots!”

If you’re honest with yourself, you’ve said that about at least two groups of people: the Israelites and the disciples.

Right?

We look at the Israelites being delivered out of Egypt and then almost immediately making a golden calf to worship and we slap our foreheads. “How could they?!”

We do the same thing with the disciples.

We see them taking in Jesus’ teachings on humility and then arguing about who will be the greatest among them and we yell out, "Are you serious?!”

I’ve wondered, at times, if those stories in the Bible are truncated or massaged to make a point. Because in the end, they’re just so obvious. And then I look at my own life and I see exactly how I can experience spiritual whiplash—sometimes within minutes.

For example, I can write something in the morning about, say, trust and by the evening I’m a wreck because I’m so anxious. I can appear to be the most spiritual person on the planet at 6 a.m. and by 6 p.m. I found my thoughts dripping with dirt and crud that I’m ashamed of.

I am the Israelites. I am the disciples. Those stories are easy to believe because all I have to do is look at my day to see that I do the exact same thing.

How about you?

But here’s the good news. I was reading in a book a couple weeks ago and something really stood out to me. The author pointed out a detail in the Bible that I had never fully seen or appreciated. And it changed my perspective. She was talking about the disciples and their knuckleheadedness and how they had deserted Jesus after he was arrested. (Did you realize that?)

Here’s the key part:

“Then all the disciples left him and fled.” Matthew 26:56.

After just spending an evening with Jesus partaking in the most intimate and emotional meal you can imagine, the disciples—all of them—desert Jesus. I think we gloss over that. I know I do. We read the Bible knowing how the story ends, so sometimes this details fly over our heads. But in the moment, the men who had been with Jesus every step of the way desert him when things get difficult.

Who does that sound like?

But here’s the beauty of Jesus: that’s not where the story ends. As author Jeannine K. Brown points out, something incredible happens: