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.)
The opposition to Jesus from the religious authorities continues and increases: “And the scribes [who] came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils [demons] casteth He out devils [demons]’” (Mark 3:22). The “scribes” are Old Testament scholars and are closely affiliated with the legalistic Pharisees. The geographical description “down from Jerusalem” points to Scripture’s detailed reliability, for the capital city was at elevation relative to Galilee. The fact that these men make this lengthy trip (likely on foot) reveals the growing interest in Jesus. Unfortunately, this group is more interested in their own agenda. Their accusation is baseless, of course, and culturally reprehensible. To accuse a fellow Jew of doing Satan’s bidding is the worst possible insult (“Beelzebub” is a first-century Jewish epithet for Satan, derived from the name of a Canaanite false god). Their presumptuous preconception reveals nothing about Jesus but everything that we need to know about them. Those who do not want to learn will never learn. Let us be sure that we “come” to Jesus and “learn” from Him (Matthew 11:28-30).