Jesus words can be lots of
things—instructive, convicting, encouraging…and also confusing. There are many times I’ve read the words of
Jesus and wondered what he meant or why he said them.
In Matthew 12:15-16, we are told
there were large crowds following Jesus.
And why not? Jesus was a miracle
worker—a great teacher. Where ever Jesus
went, there was bound to be a great show—and some great benefits! As these large crowds followed Jesus, he
healed the sick among them. But on this
occasion he did something worthy of head scratching. After healing the crowds, he warns them not
to say who he is. Why is this? If Jesus is the son of God, the promised
Messiah, why didn’t he want anyone proclaiming this truth? Isn’t that exactly what Jesus calls us to do?
What is Jesus revealing to us in
this moment? I think what we can take
from this is that when and how the truth is presented is just as important as
the truth itself. It would be easy for
the crowds to proclaim this healer as their king—the promised Messiah. But, likely they would be proclaiming him
their king because of the benefits that a healing, miracle working, king can bring
to his kingdom. The Roman rule was a
heavy oppression on the people of Israel.
How nice it would be to have a miracle working Messiah to ease their
burden. Perhaps they could make Jesus
their king of comfort.
First question: have you ever
ordered something from an infomercial? Second
question: if you answered yes to the first, have you ever ordered something
from an infomercial again? When it comes to the promises of TV
products…I’m a bit skeptical. Often the
products we see on TV don’t end up being the thing we had hoped for. So, when Jesus quieted the crowd, I think he
was turning off his own infomercial.
Though the voices might rightly proclaim who he is, their idea of what
that meant was mistaken. They would be
giving some false advertising.
Jesus wants us to worship him as the son of
God. He wants us to know who he is, and
to know him personally, but Jesus never came to be a king of comfort—and he
certainly doesn’t want us to proclaim him as the king of comfort. When we worship Jesus as the king who gives
us all the blessings we want—we begin to worship the blessings and not the one
who provides the blessings. Jesus won’t
always heal us. He won’t always give us
our desires. He won’t fit into our box
of what we feel a Messiah should be.
Jesus wasn’t what the people were expecting…he wasn’t what they had
hoped for. No, he was far greater than
that. What Jesus did come to do was
bring a new kind of Kingdom. He came to
transform our hearts and our desires and to turn us towards God…not towards a
more comfortable life. Jesus turned off
the infomercial because he had something better to give then what was
expected—not a product—instead he gave himself.
Who is the Jesus you proclaim? Is he Jesus, the provider of comforts, or
Jesus, the transformer of lives? Which
Jesus have you given your life to? One’s
an infomercial worth turning off, while the other is new life, adventure, and
truth. If you’ve got the wrong Jesus,
maybe it’s time to change the channel.
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