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 Mount of Transfiguration account in Luke includes another detail not found in the shorter Gospel of Mark: “He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered” (Luke 9:28-29a). Jesus was consistent, of course, in His prayer life. Not every occasion of His prayers is recorded in Scripture: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen” (John 21:25). However, the frequent mention of Jesus’ prayers provides a model for us. Jesus, being fully God, did not need to ask God the Father for answers, as we do. Rather, He simply enjoyed this communication with the Father. I have said and written before that our prayer lives would be enlivened and enhanced if we viewed prayer not solely as a list of requests (an important aspect of supplication, no doubt) but as a conversation with the One Who always listens, always cares, and always responds. May the example of Jesus’ prayer life encourage us to enjoy prayer more.