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 4:21-23, Jesus uses perhaps the most simple language possible to make a salient point: “And He said unto them, ‘Is a candle [lamp] brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick [lampstand]? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.’” Jesus provides us a picture of a humble home in first-century Israel. “A” should be translated “the” (the Greek is the definite article), indications that there is one of each. The only source of light is the lamp (a flat saucer with a wick floating in oil). The furniture is the lampstand, the bushel measure (used for grains, especially barley, the food of the poor), and the bed. Would anyone in that situation waste oil by lighting the lamp and sliding it under the bed or placing the bushel measure over it? Of course not! Such an action would have been unthinkable to a person struggling to survive in a subsistence economy. Jesus employs this basic vignette to prompt our thinking about spiritual matters. The light of this lamp is the Gospel message about Jesus, Who in John 8:12b said, “I am the light of the world.” Jesus wastes nothing, giving even Himself on the Cross to pay the full price for our sins and to offer us eternal salvation freely. Let us make sure that we do not waste opportunities to share the great good news of the light of Jesus Christ.