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.)
Jesus closes His somber prediction of Mark 10:33-34 with this soaring promise: “The third day He shall rise again.” In the midst of the sorrow of the coming Cross – a sorrow like no other – another sorrow emerges: the disciples “understood none of these things” (Luke 18:34a), especially the precise prophecy of the Resurrection. In the two previous similar passages in Mark 8:31 and 9:31, Jesus had also spoken directly of rising from the dead on “the third day.” Too good to be true – is that why the disciples did not understand? Perhaps, as we will consider tomorrow, their attention was divided. It is interesting to note, by contrast, that Jesus’ implacable opponents understood exactly what He had promised for the third day and used His statement to get an official watch set on Jesus’ tomb (Matthew 27:62-66).The hatred of these enemies of God thus unwittingly provides additional historical verification of the Gospel message.