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, using an accepted debate practice of that time, asks the religious leaders one simple question: “The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? Answer me” (Mark 11:30). Jesus, fully God, poses the one question that these men could not answer: “And they reasoned with themselves, saying, ‘If we shall say, “From heaven”; He will say, “Why then did ye not believe Him?” But if we shall say, “Of men”; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And they answered and said unto Jesus, ‘We cannot tell.’ And Jesus answering saith unto them, ‘Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things’” (verses 31-33). Jesus is God, and He cannot abdicate His authority to please a few arrogant and truculent men. However, by placing them in the position of not answering, He was revealing that they had no divine authority. Each one of them should have had an epiphany, a moment of spiritual clarity, that Jesus had just demonstrated the authority that they had disputed. By rejecting this revelation, though, they were hardening their hearts. We should note, too, that the parable that follows in chapter 12 was heard and fully understood by these unspiritual religious leaders. Jesus continues His ministry to them even as they oppose Him. Indeed, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20b).