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.)
In Mark 12:38-40, Jesus warns against false teachers: “Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.” The hypocrisy of these religious leaders is revealed throughout this passage. Thus, it is sadly unsurprising that they would turn prayer into a sham. Prayer is interaction with God; certainly we are not going to impress the Almighty with our vocabulary or with our voluminous speech. Prayer is a sincere expression of dependence on God; surely we are not to try to turn that dependence into a long-winded assertion of our supposed spiritual superiority: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, ‘They have their reward.’ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6:5-7). That even conversation with God could be debased into an opportunity to show off is a sobering reminder of man’s sin nature. Let us reject the pretense of the “scribes” and replace it with honest words of prayer from our needy hearts.