They Got It
Take a look at John 5:16 – 18. When the Jews were told by the man that he had been healed by Jesus, rather than acknowledge something miraculous had transpired, they persecuted Jesus. Why? His behavior did not fit in their theology. Never mind that a man who had been crippled for 38 years had been comprehensively healed, the Sabbath, at least their understanding of the Sabbath, had been broken. That was what mattered here, keeping everything the way it is supposed to be.
Jesus Ups the Ante
There are other times Christ chooses not to confront. This is not one of them. In John 5:17, He tells them that He was working because His Father was working. They understood Him. He was claiming to be the Son of God, claiming that God was His Father, thus making Himself equal with God.
Completely Missing the Point
That was a whole lot worse than breaking the Sabbath, did not really matter to them that the miracle validated Christ’s claim, it was not possible, His claim was counter to everything they believed, so they decided to do the only rational thing, kill Him. The amazing thing here is that Christ and His Father knew this would happen. This was not an unintended consequence. Think about that for a minute. The Father was leading His son to push the leaders to the point that they wanted to kill Him.
Where are we Scandalized
That makes me ask where the Lord is challenging what I think I know about Him. What “truth” am I holding so tightly that I miss the point, miss what God is doing, because it does not align with what I expect of Him?
That seems to be a question that I need to continually ask. It is similar to the question I asked yesterday, but it bears repeating, probably every day.
Posts in this series:
Intentional Focus
"Strange" Question
Non-Answer
Commands and Response
The Immediate Effect
Sadly Predictable Reaction
Implications
Take a look at John 5:16 – 18. When the Jews were told by the man that he had been healed by Jesus, rather than acknowledge something miraculous had transpired, they persecuted Jesus. Why? His behavior did not fit in their theology. Never mind that a man who had been crippled for 38 years had been comprehensively healed, the Sabbath, at least their understanding of the Sabbath, had been broken. That was what mattered here, keeping everything the way it is supposed to be.
There are other times Christ chooses not to confront. This is not one of them. In John 5:17, He tells them that He was working because His Father was working. They understood Him. He was claiming to be the Son of God, claiming that God was His Father, thus making Himself equal with God.
Completely Missing the Point
That was a whole lot worse than breaking the Sabbath, did not really matter to them that the miracle validated Christ’s claim, it was not possible, His claim was counter to everything they believed, so they decided to do the only rational thing, kill Him. The amazing thing here is that Christ and His Father knew this would happen. This was not an unintended consequence. Think about that for a minute. The Father was leading His son to push the leaders to the point that they wanted to kill Him.
Where are we Scandalized
That makes me ask where the Lord is challenging what I think I know about Him. What “truth” am I holding so tightly that I miss the point, miss what God is doing, because it does not align with what I expect of Him?
That seems to be a question that I need to continually ask. It is similar to the question I asked yesterday, but it bears repeating, probably every day.
Posts in this series:
Intentional Focus
"Strange" Question
Non-Answer
Commands and Response
The Immediate Effect
Sadly Predictable Reaction
Implications
This enters into the sovereignty of God in ways I don't think I'm used to. I tend to think God thinks like I do, that He does things like I would do them. When something crosses my path that I don't like, how do I react?
ReplyDeleteIt's not a comfortable question.
I seem to remember a study we did just prior to your going to Korea, where we were looking at dealing with regimes that were oppressive and how we were to deal with that from a Biblical perspective.
DeleteThat seems to be a question that is in the same ballpark. I think that one of the threads of that conversation was that we had to continually evaluate our understanding of both who God is and what He wanted us to do. Kind of like walking with God.
I agree that it is not easy. Truth is, I do not like the process very much. But that seems to be the assignment.