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 Peter correctly answered the crucial question of Jesus and about Jesus (“Thou art the Christ” – Mark 8:29c), our Lord gave an unusual command: “And He charged them that they should tell no man of Him” (verse 30). The word “charged” is exceptionally strong: it means that Jesus rebuked the disciples, forbidding them to speak to others about Him. This is likely the last thing that we would have expected Him to say. Should not His followers speak openly and often about Him? Since we know that what Jesus says is always the right thing, we need to place His prohibition in context. At this point in His earthly ministry, His disciples did not know the whole story about Him, including crucial doctrines of the faith (some of which Jesus began to teach in verse 31). Jesus’ logic, then, is impeccable (of course it is!); before His followers could accurately tell others the full story of Jesus, they needed to hear it and learn it in its entirety. Since we now have the complete Word of God, we are able to provide all of the requisite information to others and fulfill the clear commandment of I Peter 3:15: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”