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’ parable in Mark 13:34-37 reveals not only the future but also truth about His character: “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, ‘Watch.’” Our Lord keeps His promises: we studied that truth last week from verse 31, and this spiritual story complements that message. This passage also discloses that our Savior is a worker. The “house” is a symbol of His earthly family and represents His work of drawing each one of us and building an everlasting family. In our study of Mark, we have become acquainted with some of these family members, including a demon-possessed man, Peter’s mother-in-law, a leper, a paralyzed man, a man with a non-functioning hand, a man possessed by a legion of demons, the daughter of Jairus, a woman who bled, a deaf mute, blind Bartimaeus. Jesus’ interaction with all of these people involved both physical and spiritual labor. His public teaching to the crowds and His private instruction to His disciples required considerable time and effort. In John 5:17, Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Each believer is a fruit of this unceasing labor.