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 responds to the hypercritical and hypocritical challenge of the religious leaders: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘I will also ask of you one question, and answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things’” (Mark 11:29). Jesus was not evading the questions about His “authority.” He was employing a debate practice of the day, one that was accepted and used by His opponents. He was, though, simply refusing to deal with them at their low level. As “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), Jesus was not interested in the bickering, carping confrontational style of the religious elites. However, by using this debating technique, He was speaking their language (without their negative attitudes) such that they could actually engage with Him in a meaningful conversation. Of course, they were not interested in that, but Jesus was giving them opportunity after opportunity to learn the truth. Ultimately, some of them rejected their prideful ways and received the salvation that Jesus repeatedly offered them. Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathaea, Paul, and “a great company of the priests” (Acts 6:7) were some of these leaders who turned to Jesus. His words did not “return unto [Him] void” (Isaiah 55:11).