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.)
Mark 14:10 records the response of Judas to the stellar example of Mary of Bethany and to Jesus’ commendation of her: “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray Him unto them.” We have already seen that this blackguard had instigated the cruel criticism of Mary (John 12:4-5) and that he was primarily motivated by greed (John 12:6). It is difficult to understand how a man who had been close to Jesus for more than three years could turn on Him, especially with the knowledge that the outcome would be Jesus’ death. This betrayal is a sobering reminder of the potential for hardness of heart in all humans and also of the possibility of a way from the very gates of heaven to the confines of hell (to paraphrase a thought from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress). Judas had the extraordinary privilege of seeing Jesus’ miracles and hearing His authoritative teaching. Yet he rejected both this blessed opportunity and even worse, the blessed Savior. Judas’s downward spiral is a clear warning of the dangers of spurning Jesus Christ. Any delay in trusting in Jesus is perilous indeed: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2c-d).