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 was always ready to teach the truth that we all so desperately need. Mark 9:28-29 provides one such example of His persistent pedagogy: “And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ And He said unto them, ‘This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.’” Unfortunately, the disciples had become perfunctory in their exercise of faith. They needed to be reminded that tending to the needs of people was not akin to working on a modern assembly line. Each person was valuable, and each potential healing required “prayer.” When Jesus ascended what became known as the Mount of Transfiguration, we recall that He prayed (Luke 9:28-29). While He was praying on the mountain, in part preparing Himself for this encounter with a demon-possessed boy, His disciples in the valley were not praying. Thus, they were not prepared to heal. In my lifetime, I have preached over 5,000 sermons, written and/or delivered over 2,000 shorter devotionals, and officiated at hundreds of funerals. There is always a temptation to just “crank out” another message, especially given the daily and weekly deadlines. However, such an approach will inevitably lend to spiritual failure, such as occurred in Mark 9:14-19. All of us have substantial responsibilities before the Lord. Let us take them seriously. One way that we demonstrate such seriousness is through the simple act of prayer.