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.)
Certainly the life of Jesus shows us that He fully comprehends how challenging our lives here can be – and often are. Mark 3:20-21 is a brief vignette that gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ family life (the Greek word translated “friends” in the King James Version means “family”). Clearly, His family members loved Him, but they did not understand Him and His ministry. Jesus thus knows by His personal experience how hard close relationships can be. Joy and blessing can easily turn to sorrow and disappointment. We try diligently to do the best that we can do for those closest to us, but sometimes we fail, and sometimes others fail us. It was only after Jesus’ death and resurrection that His family began to really understand Him. Still, He did not reject them for their wrong-headedness. In fact, we could say that Jesus understood their misunderstanding. Yes, He knows our struggles with close relationships, and His solution is to offer us a close and eternal relationship with Him.