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.)
It becomes increasingly difficult emotionally to read Scripture as Jesus approaches the Cross. Mark 14:32-34 begins this distressing sequence of events: “And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and He saith to His disciples, ‘Sit ye here, while I pray.’ And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.’” “Gethsemane,” on the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem, means “oil press”; this literal place of pressing oil becomes the location of intense pressure upon our Savior. The words used to describe His discomfort are intense: “sore amazed” indicates genuine grief, “very heavy” implies deep distress, and “extremely sorrowful” points to being overwhelmed. All of these difficulties are “unto death”; that is, they combine for a sorrow that almost kills by itself. Luke 22:44 adds this excruciating detail: “And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke, as a physician, would have been greatly interested in this rare medical phenomenon, a condition that reveals unfathomable stress. Let us be thoughtful and reverent as we contemplate these sufferings of our Lord, sufferings that would only increase as the next hours brought Him to the Cross. Christianity is not a casual thing, an experience that we add when we have the time and inclination. No, it is life itself – life purchased by death, the death of Jesus.