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.)
After Jesus selected twelve as apostles (ordained representatives and messengers), they return to the daily difficulties of public ministry. Mark 3:19b-21 says, “They went into an house. And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when His friends [literally, “His family”] heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him, for they said, ‘He is beside Himself’ [literally, ‘He is out of His mind’].” We do not know which family members are involved in this attempt. Godly Joseph, His legal father, is not mentioned as being alive during Jesus’ more-than-three-year ministry; most scholars deduce that he had died. Mary, his mother, is alive (see verse 31). His half brothers James and Jude (both authors of New Testament epistles) became believers after He rose from the grave. Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 also mention His half brothers Joses (Joseph) and Simon, but we know nothing further about them. Jesus also had half sisters (Matthew 13:5-6 and Mark 6:3); we do not know any details about them. All of these specific names and relationships remind us of the historical factuality of Scripture. The inclusion of this distressing vignette is another power statement of the reliability of the Bible, for this account does not present Jesus’ family in a positive manner. We can understand their concerns about Jesus’ health, but their assessment is incorrect and demeaning. Their rapid rush to judgment should cause us to pause and avoid the same mistake. Because we do not have full information – and, even if we did, we could not fully process it due to our finiteness – we need to be careful in all of our relationships, including in our relationship with Jesus. Often we struggle to comprehend what He is doing in our lives, and it is easy to draw wrong conclusions such as that He does not care or that He is lacking in power. The wise Christian studies the revealed character of Christ and simply trusts in His eternal goodness.