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.)
Mark 10:18 continues the account of Jesus’ encounter with the man known for centuries as the “rich young ruler” (from words used in Luke 18:23, Matthew 19:20, and Luke 18:18): “And Jesus said unto him, ‘Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but One, that is, God.’” Instead of immediately answering this man’s question about inheriting – really, in his mind, earning – eternal life (verse 17), Jesus Himself asks a necessary theological question designed to make this man (and everyone listening) think. Only God is “good” in the absolute sense of the word. All of us can do good things, but complete goodness is an attribute of God alone. Jesus was not implying that He was not good; He wanted the young man to see the implications of his own words. Was Jesus good in this absolute sense? Did He always do good? Was His goodness palpable – that is, could people observe the inherent goodness in His words, works, and ways? All of these questions had to be answered in the affirmative. The conclusion, then, is that Jesus must be fully God. This conclusion is the correct one and is the one that we all must come to if we are to trust in Jesus for eternal life. Thus, Jesus took this man’s own word and employed it as a beginning point for a serious evaluation of His claim to be the promised Messiah, the Savior. His dialogue with this ruler is thus a genuine conversation designed to draw him and us to the truth.