Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
We should never cease to be astounded that Jesus speaks to us. He tells us what we need to hear, and sometimes what we need to hear is “No!” In Luke 9:50-56, Jesus says no to two of His closest disciples, James and John (who were also His cousins). His response might seem obvious, since destroying people with fire from heaven does not seem to be a reasonable first option for Christians. We should, though, try to understand the disciples’ confusion. Jesus had just said that “he that is not against us is for us” (verse 50). Clearly, the Samaritans were not for Jesus; they would not even let Him stay with them (verse 53). Thus, James and John reached the conclusion that the Samaritans were against Jesus and needed to be treated as enemies. Jesus’ rebuke (verse 55) is a stern one, but He then offers an alternative: why not seek “to save them” (verse 56)? This better way was carried out by John when he later ministered to the Samaritans (Acts 8:14-17). The clear lesson for us is to avoid the misuse of power. Abusive churches (sometimes called fringe churches) teach decent doctrine but seek to control all areas of members’ lives, especially (and predictably) the financial. On the personal level, we all know people who are controlling and manipulative. This can be seen, for example, in a Christian husband lording over his “weaker vessel” wife, when that reference from I Peter 3:7 actually refers to something precious that should be highly valued and carefully cherished. We should never be churches or Christians who are motivated by the exercise of power. Rather, like Jesus, we should seek, serve, and save.