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 builds upon the seed parable of Mark 4:26-27 with the familiar story of the mustard seed: “And He said, ‘Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it’” (verses 30-32). The tiny “mustard seed” produces a large bush that rapidly grows to a height of ten to twelve feet. The seeming incongruity of the size of the seed and the resulting plant pictures the surprising growth of Christianity in the first century. Despite the vehement opposition of the Jewish elites and the developing official persecution of the pagan Romans, the Church grew quickly, just as Jesus here predicts. His closest followers numbered twelve (and one of them, Judas Iscariot, was a fake). In the Upper Room in Jerusalem, after the Ascension of Jesus, “about an hundred and twenty” believers (Acts 1:15) were gathered waiting for the promised indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. On that day of Pentecost, “about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41) were saved. In a matter of decades, the Church had spread to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Such is the unchanging power of God.