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.)
Yesterday, from Luke 22:19-24, we considered a troubling example of how culture influences people, including unwary Christians. Let us study this account a bit more today and see how Jesus confronted the wrongheadedness of the world’s ways. We know that the disciples – with the tragic exception of the traitorous Judas Iscariot – genuinely believed in Jesus as the promised Savior (John 6:68-69). Unfortunately, their Messianic expectations were shaped by their current culture. They anticipated a political Messiah that would overthrow cruel Roman rule, a national Messiah that would focus exclusively on Israel, and a worldly Messiah that would be externally impressive (see Satan’s temptations in Luke 4:1-13, particularly verses 9-11). Instead, Jesus said that He would die on the Cross. This teaching did not fit with the cultural expectation. Their whole outlook needed correction, and Jesus provides that in Luke 22:25-27, where He redefines success as service, power as pardon, and strength as succor. Jesus’ counteraction of the culture directs us to a better way, the best way, to live in this weary world. Lord, help us to be increasingly aware of how our culture negatively impacts us.