Make God's Praise Glorious!: Get Outta Here!

Unbelievable moments. We love the Olympics for many reasons, one of which is the incredulous moments the world is able to share. The 2012 games have already highlighted this phenomenon, haven't they?

A quick roundup of news reports which use this word in recent days includes these few examples where this word incredulous is used. It seems to be one word appearing a lot in media reports these days:

India incredulous over mystery Olympian - "India is fuming over the presence of a mystery woman who led out the nation's athletes at the opening ceremony."

In an article about swimmer Michael Phelps, a USA Today reporter closed his article by saying,

Which event would he most like to win again? Phelps looked incredulous. "Obviously, all of them," he said, smiling a golden smile.

Regarding Ye Shiwen's world-record breaking swim: Australia has lent its voice to a mass of support building behind Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen, who raised doubts with an incredulous Olympic gold medal swim.

People enjoy the incredulous moment, the unbelievable outcome when it is something that exceeds their wildest expectations, their fondest hopes and dreams. The Olympics always seem to offer plenty of these, as well as the flip side, the incredulous sense of loss in an unexpected upset. These are the extremes of human emotion and the Olympics is a safe place to experience them vicariously.

I wonder how many of the visitors to London will take time to visit the National Gallery, one of that city's treasure houses of achievements in painting and art from around the world.

One of the paintings housed in the National Gallery is the painting below by Caravaggio. It has been a favorite of mine since I first encountered it. I love the get outta here! It's Jesus we've been talking to! expression of the man on the right, hands outstretched, fingers flayed, I can't believe it! flung to the ends of his furthest doubts. What a WOW moment of incredulous recognition. Dr. Luke tells this story with the small details of a wise and practical physician in Luke 24.

Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaues 1601

What about you and me? What incredulous moments have we experienced in our lives? The first glimpse of your newborn baby's face? I remember saying when I first saw my son, "I can't believe it!" Such joy seemed almost too good to be true. I've also had my share of the disappointing unbelievable moments. You too?

Yet here we are today, the hours ahead, beckoning with more unbelievable moments of joy, calm, and peace as we dwell in God's presence in the midst of whatever it is we are doing. . . watching the Olympics, clearing the supper table, sharing a chat with a friend or spouse, or nodding to the cardinal just outside the window (yes, he's there at the moment).

The image of the man with outstretched arms at the Supper is what I want to carry along for the journey of these next twelve hours. The disciples had begged this Gentleman to "stay with us for it is evening" and when his identity was revealed in the breaking of the bread (and he vanished), they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us?"