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.)
Jesus’ rejection by the citizens of His hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:1-4) is inexplicable to us. The outcome of this skepticism is sad beyond words: “And He could do there no mighty works, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages, teaching” (verses 5-6). We need to understand that Jesus could have performed more miracles at this time, for omnipotence remains omnipotence. Rather, He chose not to reward “their unbelief.” Logically, if a few miracles did not change their perspective, then many miracles would not convince them that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Remember, these people were “astonished” by Jesus (verse 2), by both His words and works; yet they still rejected Him as Savior. Jesus “marvelled” that these folks were so obdurate in their opposition to the obvious truth. The hard, harsh reality of rejection was a huge part of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Since He was openly rejected in His own hometown, certainly we will also feel the pain of rejection – perhaps even by people close to us. “The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord” (Matthew 10:24).