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.)
Matthew’s sincere concern for the souls of his fellow “publicans” and other “sinners” of his acquaintance (Mark 2:15) stands in stark contrast to the attitude of the religious leaders in verse 16: “And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him [Jesus], eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples, ‘How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?’” These ruling elites completely missed the irony of their own words, for their smug and smarmy self-righteousness placed them squarely in the category of “sinners.” Jesus quickly and cleverly corrected their wrong theology: “When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, ‘They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (verse 17). The legalistic leaders were like doctors who not only refused to make house calls but also disdained both the office and the hospital. In other words, they were useless in helping anyone spiritually. In fact, they were not doctors at all but terminally ill patients in complete denial of the severity of their situations. Jesus, on the other hand, made house calls, like this one. He still does.