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.)
The events following the calls by Jesus of the Four fishermen in Mark 1:16-20 came rapidly: “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day He entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes” (verses 21-22). “Straightway” (or immediately) is more than a time reference; it indicates urgency, a strong sense of purpose. Jesus really wanted to be in “the synagogue” (the Jewish place of weekly worship), and He preached powerfully. The people were “astonished” (literally, “struck with shock” – we might say today that they were thunderstruck). Their amazement did not derive from Jesus’ personality or physical appearance: “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2c-d). Rather, the key is that He spoke words of “authority,” unlike the second-hand quotations and speculative opinions of the religious leaders, “the scribes.” Jesus “taught” specific “doctrine” from the authoritative Word of God, and He presented it clearly and simply. I once read an anecdote about the well-known Biblical expositor Harry Ironside. He preached a sermon and afterwards was approached by a man who told him that he was not a great preacher. Mr. Ironside asked this man what was wrong with his preaching. The complainant responded, “I understood everything you said.” Apparently, that benighted man thought that great preaching had to be intellectual to the point of incomprehensibility. In our churches, we need to follow the model that Jesus established: we must study the Bible carefully and teach it clearly. In so doing, we are placing ourselves under the “authority” of Jesus our Savior.