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.)
Following Jesus’ astonishing teaching about the dangers of wealth (Mark 10:17-27), one of His disciples made a statement that was really an implied question: “Then Peter began to say unto Him, ‘Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee’” (verse 28). Peter saw the rich young ruler refuse to follow Jesus, contrasted that rejection with the disciples’ immediate response to follow Him (Matthew 4:20-22, for example), and wondered, “What are we going to get as compensation?” No doubt Peter’s mindset had been similar to that of the wealthy young man, for it was the prevailing philosophy of the culture, reflecting the ideas of the religious leaders. The extreme amazement of the disciples (verses 24 and 26) reveals how thoroughly engrained this concept was in Israel. Peter’s use of “all” is unintended hyperbole, for only Jesus had “left all” when He voluntarily gave up His rightful place in heaven to come to earth to give “all” on the Cross. It is true that the disciples had willingly given up their previous lives and goals. However, what is from a human perspective a sacrifice becomes from a heavenly and eternal perspective an investment, a worthy investment. We can be sure that, as a song says, “it will be worth it all when we see Christ.”