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.)
Another apostle called by Jesus was named “Thaddaeus” (Mark 3:18). Based upon other passages (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13), he is also called Lebbaeus and Judas. As we have seen, a person with multiple names was not uncommon, based upon different languages (especially Aramaic and Greek) and upon the need to distinguish people from others with the same name. Little is known of Thaddaeus, but he does ask a cogent question of Jesus in John 14:22: “Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, ‘Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?’” In the context of John 14, Jesus is speaking of heaven (verses 1-6). Probably, like everyone else at that time, Thaddaeus is anticipating that Jesus as the Messiah would soon set up a kingdom on earth. He is confused and wonders how unbelievers (“the world”) would come to know Jesus as Savior. Jesus provides a number of factors that would direct people to Him, including the mutual love of disciples (13:35), changed lives (14:15, 21, 23), and the powerful presence of God the Holy Spirit (14:16-17, 26). The concern that Thaddaeus shows here for the unsaved is a winsome example for us. May we also fervently desire that “the world” come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.