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.)
In Mark 2:18, the behavior of Jesus and His disciples was being questioned: “And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto Him, ‘Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?’“ Thus, Jesus had to defend the distinctiveness of His disciples (verses 19-20). We should not shrink from such questioning, even when it is motivated by wrong reasons. We should view it as an opportunity to explain who we are and what we believe. However, we should not seek to draw attention to ourselves, as the Pharisees regularly did – even with their fasting. When they fasted, they whitened their faces, put ashes on their heads, rumpled their clothes, did not wash, looked as forlorn as possible, and were generally morose, every Monday and Thursday. They were definitely distinctive, but not in a positive way. In fact, the Pharisees are still synonymous with hypocrisy and legalism. As such, they remain warnings to all of us. Our distinctiveness may be misunderstood by many, but it must be driven by a desire to be more and more like Jesus. Then, we can fulfill I Peter 3:15: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”