A TRAITOR IN THE MIDST

Mrk. 14:18 ... "As they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, 'Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me, one who is eating with Me.'"

      Jesus spoke these words while He was eating the Passover meal with His apostles in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem.  It was during this solemn celebration that He instituted the sacred meal we now call the Lord's Supper.  There was a great deal that pressed upon Jesus' mind that evening, for He knew that the next day He would be afflicted and crucified as if He were a dangerous criminal.  Our Lord was also grieved by the knowledge that He would be delivered into the hands of evil men by one whom He had chosen as a friend, apostle, and co-laborer in His exalted work.  He revealed this terrible realization with the above announcement, although He did not indicate who the traitor would be.  When John asked Him, He replied, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it."  It is then reported that "when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot," (Jno. 13:26).  

      Judas has the horrible distinction of being the traitor who delivered Jesus to be killed by His enemies.  But he is by no means the only disciple of Christ who has brought reproach upon the Lord by some kind of denial or other disloyal word or deed.  Each Sunday we gather about the Lord's Table to keep the Holy Communion that He ordained on that night so long ago.  As we eat the bread that signifies His body broken for us and drink the cup that signifies His blood shed to cleanse us of our sins, we are in a very real way sharing a sacred meal with Jesus.  Often there are times that Jesus could say to us, "One of you will betray Me."  Because, in the week that follows, as we go about life at home, at work, and in public, we say and do many things that are sorely offensive to Jesus.  Our words and deeds sometimes deny the commitment we made to take up our cross and follow Him.  

      There are Christians who eat the Lord's Supper and then use language that is dirty or abusive later in the week.  People hear it and wonder what worship means to a person who follows it up with such defiled speech.  It constitutes a kind of denial of Jesus and is akin to Judas' deed.  The Lord teaches us to "let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth," (Eph. 4:29).  To disregard this admonition of our Master shows a degree of contempt for a person's confession of loyalty to Jesus.

      As the congregation shares the Lord's Supper, there are those who eat it and then let themselves be lured into the sin of fornication before the week is out.  We live in a context where moral standards are easy and low.  Sexual freedom is expected and even demanded.  An opportunity to fornicate is not looked upon as a temptation to be resisted and defeated but as a welcomed occasion to indulge in sensual pleasure.  But in spite of society's new definitions and cheap virtues, sin remains sin.  The Christian who shares his/her body with someone other than a marriage partner is sinning and betraying the Lord who died to purify us.  Our world approves sexual license as an individual's right, but the Lord warns:  "Flee from sexual immorality. ... The sexually immoral person sins against his own body," (I Cor. 6:18).  

      It might be obscene speech or fornication that constitutes one's betrayal of Jesus.  Or, it might be any of the other sins that are identified in Scripture, such as stealing, lying, slandering, drunkenness, homosexual behavior, or abusing drugs.  But the person who eats the Lord's Supper and goes out to trample on the teaching of Jesus is betraying Him after the fashion of Judas Iscariot.

THE ETERNAL WORDS OF JESUS

Mrk. 13:31 ... "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away."

      We live in a world of change and decay.  Almost nothing remains constant.  A glance at a 30-year old picture of someone shows how much change can occur in such a short time.  The neighborhood in which you grew up no longer exists if you are past 60 years old, or perhaps even much younger than that.  The creek where a man swam and fished as a boy is now only a shallow trickle of pollution.  The farm of hay fields, pastures, and wood lots is now a subdivision of houses and condominiums on tiny plots of grass intersected by asphalt roads and parking lots.  Our physical environment indeed changes greatly within just a few years!

      Our world of ideas, thoughts, and interests also undergoes sweeping changes, sometimes with far greater rapidity  than that of material things.  Did you ever read a newspaper or magazine that was several years old?  How strange, and sometimes how funny, the things of current interest then seem now.  But at that time they were by no means strange or funny.  A book that is ten or twelve years old is usually irrelevant today.  No one would want to entrust his health to a doctor whose training does not extend this side of 1990, or even 2000.  We want to speed forward in all things with the cutting edge of progress in knowledge, science, and technology. 

      At the same time that we anxiously anticipate these changes and in so many ways reap great benefits from them, there is also something unsettling and foreboding about them.  We wonder if the conversion of arm land to building developments will someday diminish the food supply and irreparably upset the balance of nature.  Who is pleased when he sees graying hair, wrinkling skin, and sagging shape when he looks in a mirror?  How does the author feel whose books are out of print, no longer read, and now forgotten?  What about the person in a profession who must interrupt his career with a year's sabbatical to retain so that he can come back and continue his work more effectively?  Although we usually welcome change and enjoy benefits from it, there comes with it an ambivalence that takes its toll on our psychological constitution.  At the same time we wish for change, we also want something unchangeable, something permanent.  Things which endure serve as reference points in the swirling change to give us an orientation in life that is comforting, stabilizing, and very meaningful.

      There is very little in the category of the immutable in the world, but the statement in Mrk. 13:31 reveals one of those few.  And no little or insignificant thing it is!  It is the sum total of what Jesus said while he preached and taught here on the human plane.  His words are called the WORD OF GOD, the PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY, and the GOSPEL.  They may even be called the INCORRUPTIBLE SEED by which human lives may be "born again," (I Pet. 1:23).  This body of language has been in the world now for almost two thousand years; and if the world endures another two millennia, it will still be here as "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes," (Rom. 1:16).  Nineteen centuries ago it was being preached in Greek, and those who received it in faith and obeyed it were saved by it.  Nine centuries ago it was preached in Latin, and those who submitted their lives to its guidance were led by it into the waiting arms of Jesus at death.  In the present century it is being preached in English to those who will be converted into saints of God by its power.  And if the world survives another ten centuries, in the year 3015 the words of Jesus in some new language will still be heard on this earth and will still lead receptive souls to eternal salvation.  Finally, when the universe is "rolled up like a robe," (Heb. 1:12), and consigned to eternal oblivion, only the words of Jesus will continue into eternity to preserve in perfect peace and joy those who now conform their lives to its holy principles.

DUTY TO GOD AND GOVERNMENT

Mrk. 12:17 ... Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.'"

      Jesus made this statement in reply to adversaries who had come to "trap Him in His talk," (v.13).  He was busy teaching the people about the Kingdom of God, which was soon to be established in their midst and opened to them for membership as citizens.  They were fascinated and delighted with His message, for it is reported that "the great throng heard Him gladly," (v.37).  But the religious overseers of these common people saw Jesus in a very different way.  He was giving the people hope which they could not, and for this they envied Him greatly.  Their envy had grown through the success of Jesus' rapport with the people until, at last, it blossomed into fear.  They feared that Jesus would undermine their position of power, wealth, and prestige.  Beyond that they feared that Jesus' movement would turn political, antagonize their Roman overlords, and call down upon their country a brutal retaliation for which the Romans were so well known.  They had already decided that Jesus' role as a leader of the people must be terminated.  When all other approaches failed, they manipulated both the common people and the Romans to engineer His crucifixion.

      At this point in the process, however, they were trying to ruin Jesus by causing Him to contradict Himself or say something embarrassing or manifestly false.  Their favored tactic was to present Him with a carefully contrived dilemma, hoping He would impale Himself on one of its horns.  In this case it had to do with paying taxes.  There were two taxes imposed on the Jews in Palestine at this time.  One was a half-shekel poll tax required by the Law of Moses, (Mat. 17:24-27).  The other was the tax levied by the authorities in distant Rome and collected by the hated publicans.  The Jews accepted the Mosaic tax as a religious duty, but they despised the Roman tax as something oppressive, which was implicated with Gentile pollution and drained off their national wealth for the opulence of foreign evil rulers.  The Pharisees and Herodians who posed this dilemma to Jesus saw no way that He could break it.  If He said, "Pay the Roman tax," the people would be incensed and reject Him as a traitor.  If He sought to protect His favor with the people by saying, "Don't pay the Roman tax," then they would report Him to the authorities who would either imprison Him, banish Him, or even execute Him.  

      What the Jewish logicians failed to realize was that they were trying to match wits with God Himself and that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men," (I Cor. 1:25).  Jesus broke their dilemma easily with His brilliant answer, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  Though to them Jesus was an enemy, they nevertheless marveled at His answer.  They recognized with wonder that He had escaped with superior sagacity what they considered to be an inescapable trap.

      Jesus' answer, however, is far more than a gem of mental acuity.  It has an application that is not reduced by time or place.  Above the Christian there always exist the power of human government and the power of God.  God does not want us to create a conflict between the two unless truth and righteousness are at stake, (Acts 5:29).  We must obey human law and pay the taxes it imposes on us, (Rom. 13:1,6).  What many people ignore, however, is that we must also pay God His due.  To perform one's civil duty as a good citizen is far less than enough.  God supercedes human government and its law with His own sovereignty and law.  To fail to take that into account with irreverent disobedience is the ultimate tragedy.  Here in America we must not let our political process blind us to the reality of God and His law. 

      

THE CRITICAL NEED TO FORGIVE

Mrk. 11:25-26 ... "Forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven also may forgive your trespasses."

      It would indeed be a wonderful world if no one ever made a mistake, if no one's words ever hurt another's feelings, if no one's actions ever intruded into another's life.  But this world is far from being a wonderful place.  Perhaps just about everyone commits some kind of offense against another every day, and some people have such poor control over their behavior that they commit multiple trespasses day after day.  We are informed that "we all stumble in many ways.  And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man," (Jas. 3:2).  Such an offense puts great stress on the relationship between the people involved.  If the situation is not soon resolved and the stress relieved, it is possible the relationship will be broken.  Friends are then converted into enemies, good will into malice, and happiness into nasty misery.

      It is depressing for someone you have offended to refuse to forgive you.  But how devastating it would be to the human spirit to think that God would not pardon you when you have offended Him.  And to be sure, every one of us offends God each day!  We are assured that "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," (I Jno. 1:8).  This statement is directed at our frequent trespasses against God.  We cannot deny that we do it, or we make ourselves to be liars of the worst sort.  What if God refused to forgive the person who violated His sanctity and dishonored Him?  Why, that person would be doomed!

      But God is not that kind of being.  We treasure the relief offered in the psalm, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  He will not always chide, nor will be keep His anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities," (Psa. 103:8-10).  After assuring us that we all sin against God, (I Jno. 1:8), the following verse makes this promise, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  God is not unwilling to forgive us our trespasses, but He is kind and gracious to extend to us that great benefit.

      We mus notice, however, that Jesus attaches an important condition to God's magnanimity.  He will withhold forgiveness from the person who refuses to forgive another of offenses against Himself.  Such meanness and nastiness of spirit is in itself an affront to God that He will not overlook.  Perhaps the Bible's best illustration of this is given by Jesus Himself in a parable, (Mat. 18:23-35).  A king had a servant who owed him a debt so great he would never have been able to pay it.  Then, because the servant begged mercy, the king forgave him the debt.  The same servant then went out and found a fellow servant who owed him only a pittance, which in time he could almost certainly repay.  But the first servant had no mercy and refused to grant the time necessary for restitution.  With violence he had the debtor thrown into prison.  When the king heard about it, he was greatly affronted at the meanness of the servant and called him in to face him.  He then had this wicked servant thrown into prison also.  Then Jesus said, "So also My heaven Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."  Does God accept the worship of Christians who refuse to forgive those who have offended them?  The text makes it clear that He will not.  If we want God's favor, God's blessings, and God's forgiveness, (and who does not?), then we MUST forgive.  What greater motive do we have to induce us to put past offenses behind us and be able to face God with a clear conscience?

THE KEY TO BEING FIRST

Mrk. 10:44 ... "Whoever shall be first among you must be slave of all."

      The principles that characterize and govern Christianity are often the very opposite of those which people would expect, or think to be functional.  The idea that joy comes through sorrow is foreign to human thought, and yet it is a precept of the gospel.  The New Testament also teaches that life is a consequence of death, that affirmation rises from self-denial, and that receiving is enhanced by liberality in giving.  As one considers these principles of Christian doctrine that sound so incongruous with human wisdom, he is reminded of the statement that "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong," (I Cor. 1:27).  The choice of sorrow over joy, death over life, and self-denial over self-affirmation seem like weakness to human reason, and such choices looks foolish to most people.  Those who have not been educated in the gospel, however, have not been prepared to see the reality that is hidden in these choices urged by the New Testament and the superior benefits that come from them.  We are told that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned," (I Cor. 2:14).

      Jesus' statement in Mrk. 10:44 is another precept of the gospel that does not recommend itself to human thought.  The prevailing idea of success is to reach a station in society where one is freed from routine duties so that he has the leisure to pursue a course of pleasure and self-satisfaction.  The dream of most people is to live in a mansion kept by servants who clean, maintain, and keep it in repair.  The servants prepare the meals and clean up afterwards.  They keep the cars polished and in top operating order.  A chauffeur drives the owner, relieving him of the toil and stress of maneuvering through the traffic.  In short, every common task is taken care of by the servants.  The owner of the estate can devote himself to extracting from life all the enjoyment and comfort that it will yield to him.

      The world counts as ultimately successful those who achieve such enviable positions.  But Jesus refutes this concept entirely.  He defines true success in terms of service rendered.  The person who does the most good for his fellow man, especially when he does it in the Name of the Lord, is the one who achieves the greatest distinction with Christ.  To be served by others is to practice the spirit of selfishness, but to devote one's life to serving others is to practice the spirit of generosity.  The desire to be served exhibits rank egotism; the desire to serve others portrays the essence of love.  Jesus used Himself as the Model, for He said that "even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many," (Mrk. 10:45).  Jesus denied Himself the glory of heaven and His divine prerogatives to humble Himself as a man and suffer ultimate humiliation to give man the greatest gift, salvation and life eternal.  

      The complaint is often heard, "I don't enjoy church services, because I don't get anything out of them."  The reason a person has this experience is that he is addicted to the wrong attitude that "the good life" is getting the best that can be gotten.  One cannot appreciate or understand it until he tries it, but life is more pleasant and satisfying when it is approached as a giver than as a receiver.  The person who attends church to give as much as he can to the worship, Bible study, and fellowship is the person who will come away with the feeling that he has received a great deal.  To him the experience of church will be a great benefit that he will treasure, and he will commit himself to regular involvement therein.  Those who get little or nothing from church are those who put little or nothing into it.

CHOOSING SIDES IN THE UNIVERSAL CONFLICT

Mrk. 9:40 ... "The one who is not against us is for us."

      One of the more prominent characteristics of man is the struggle between competing groups.  The conflict between Arabs and Jews is millennia old and apparently unresolvable.  The fight between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland has been in progress for centuries.  There is hardly a place on earth where there is not a division within the local community along the line of some issue and resulting constant friction as people conduct their affairs in close proximity.

      Although we have our own problems of this sort in America, for the most part we are not involved in the struggle between opposing groups in other lands except in a few high profile cases.  Fortunately, I am not challenged to choose sides in the Arab-Jewish conflict.  Nor is it needful for me to decide whether I will support the Protestants or the Catholics in Ireland.  I can live well enough and conduct my business in peace without reference to competition between groups like these in other countries.

      There is, however, a struggle, universal in scope, that involves everyone everywhere.  There are two parties to the conflict and no middle ground between them.  It is impossible to circumvent its battlescape, or conduct one's affairs without being involved in it.  Jesus' statement in Mrk. 9:40 infers the existence of this colossal struggle, which the Bible often classifies as warfare.  It is a war centered in the spiritual world; and since everyone has a spirit (soul) within him, the struggle extends into his life as well.  It is the war between good and evil, with God leading the forces of good, and Satan the forces of evil.  There is no demilitarized zone, or neutral middle ground, to which one can flee to take refuge from the battle as a non-participant.

      I can refuse to be a Democrat without the necessity to be a Republican, (and, of course, vice versa).  But I cannot refuse to support Christ and His Way without giving my allegiance to Satan.  This conclusion seems terribly harsh, since there are so many people who do not profess allegiance to Christ, offer Him worship, and defend His doctrine and mode of personal conduct against scoffers.  One must realize that this conclusion is the Lord's, not mine or any other person's.  It is not one that the religious have made to express contempt for those who will not come over to their side.  If the Lord is real and true, this conclusion is a fact.  Either one is in allegiance to Christ, or He is in opposition to Him.

      If someone interviewed a large number of the people who never attend church or make an effort to worship, he would probably find that most of them speak favorably of Jesus and are sympathetic to the way of life He advocates.  They do not think of themselves as enemies of Christ, and many would even confess it would be good for them to start attending church services.  They would likely declaim being "enemies" of Jesus and declare themselves neutral in regard to the matter of the religious vs. the non-religious.  Some would maintain they are actually friends of Jesus who have not so far proclaimed it.  God's view, however, as He has expressed it in Scripture, is quite different!  We are told very objectively that "whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God," (Jas. 4:4).  The term "world" as used here refers to the spiritual domain ruled by Satan rather than the physical planet itself, (see Luk. 4:5-7).  How sad it is for people to admire and respect Christ and yet be His enemy because they will not give Him their allegiance and be His disciples.  How pitiful it is for people to appreciate the kind of life Christ promotes in man without yielding themselves to Him to build that kind of life in themselves personally.

      The greatest tragedy will be in the End, when all must come before Christ in judgment.  Only those who submit to Him during this life will gain admittance into His home in heaven.  Those who never give their loyalty to Him will then hear the most terrible words a person can ever hear, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," (Mat. 25:41).  It is not pre-determined that anyone should hear that awful sentence.  As long as you are this side of the grave you can avert it by becoming a disciple and friend of Jesus.  It is my prayer that God bless this short essay to persuade someone somewhere to thus change his/her life affiliation and direction.

 

JESUS REBUKES PETER

Mrk. 8:32-33 ... "Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind Me, Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man'."

      Through the prophet Isaiah Jehovah said, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," (55:8).  The human reaction to a situation usually differs greatly from God's, for man's wisdom is to God's as a single drop of water is to the entire ocean.  Furthermore, when one of us begins a course of action, we do not know what the final outcome will be; but God always knows the end from the beginning.  Through Isaiah again He declared, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My course'," (Isa. 46:9-10).  To know where a course of action will lead and what its consequences will be determine whether you will undertake it.  God always knows and chooses the best way.  Man never knows and often blunders badly in his choice.  God's course of action with its various components often seems little short of foolish to man in his sophistication and self-confident wisdom.  God realizes this and sometimes even chooses such an unseemly course deliberately to exhibit man's egotism and self-reliance.  Paul wrote that "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God," (I Cor. 1:27-29).  

      If God had assigned it to man to plan the Scheme of Redemption, one wonders how it would have been conceived and designed.  I think that man would have designed something easier and less painful than having the Son of God descend to live in human form, subject Himself to every temptation we face, and endure the horrible ordeal of the crucifixion and its preliminary tortures and gross indignities.  One of the things most characteristic of human enterprise is the effort to find the way that is easier and more comfortable in anything to be done.  This is, in fact, the underlying factor in Peter's taking Jesus aside and rebuking Him.  In the previous verse it is reported that Jesus "began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again."  Peter's rebuke was a denial that such an awful thing could possibly happen to Jesus.

      In the supreme wisdom of God it happens that the way which seems harder to man is often the one that is best; and the one that appears more painful is nothing other than the way that is necessary.  We cannot fathom the depth of the divine wisdom that Jesus' suffering and death was the best and only way to effect human redemption.  But it was so!  And when the apostle Peter, though with the best of intentions, sought to divert His beloved Master from such a cruel fate, Jesus rebuked him sharply.  He even called him "Satan," evidently because the same proposal (though maliciously) had been previously made by Satan, (Mat. 4:1-11).  Then Jesus warned Peter not to try to impose "the things of man" upon the way chosen by God.

      There is a great temptation in the church today to compromise God's way for us with innovations we think will accomplish a reduction in work, sacrifice, and even suffering.  There has already been enough yielding to this temptation to produce results that are quite discernible.  Let us beware!  Peter's blunder should convince us that God does not intend that everything should be easy and become even easier, nor that pain should be eliminated and replaced with pleasure.  It may well be that as we try to make everything in God's service easy and entertaining, we are "not setting [our] mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." 

HE HAS DONE ALL THINGS WELL

Mk. 7:37 ... "And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well'."

      In putting an epitaph on a gravestone the attempt is usually made to sum up the character of the life of the departed in a brief sentence.  It is quite interesting to walk through a cemetery and read these engravings.  Some are modest, while others are very boastful.  A few even convey sober warnings to all who stop to read them.  A few epitaphs are humorous, but many more are sad.  Having read a considerable number of tombstone inscriptions, I have been made to wonder what I would like to be written above my grave.  What brief sentence would best describe my life or convey the essence of its meaning to others?

      I would envy for my epitaph the words of the text above:  HE HAS DONE ALL THINGS WELL.  But to envy is as far as I will ever go toward that wonderful statement!  There are countless people, who are my contemporaries, with talents that cause mine to fade into obscurity and accomplishments that dwarf my meager few.  Nevertheless, not a one of them will merit those six brief words, "He (or she) has done all things well."  No president, prime minister, king, or queen shall ever deserve them.  No scholar, author, artist,or entertainer shall claim them.  No inventor, financier, or philanthropist will achieve them.

      There has been but ONE MAN to live on earth who would claim these words honestly, because He alone merited them through His superior achievements.  That was the same Man of whom they were first spoken, Jesus Christ.  His unique life was in such bold contrast to what everyone achieves who journeys through this world.  A few unusual people can claim the statement, "He has done many things well."  Perhaps a mere handful of the billions of mankind could have it said of them, "He has done most things well."  But only of Jesus can it be said without reservation, "He has done ALL THINGS well!"

      When Jesus spoke, every word was measured with perfection and filled with meaning that time shall never erase.  He declared that "heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away," (Mrk. 13:31).  When He spoke, even the devils trembled and begged for mercy.  Satan the archdemon could not stand up before His powerful words.  At His command storms were stilled and graves were opened to release their captives to renewed life.  People who heard Him teach were utterly amazed, because they could not help but feel strongly the irresistible authority from which His message came.  Even those sent to arrest Him for teaching forgot their mission when they paused to listen to His spellbinding words.

      When Jesus acted, everything He did was executed perfectly to fit the needs of all involved.  Every deed was performed to achieve two great ends:  one was the fulfillment of His Father's will, and the other was the ultimate good of every human being.  Many of His acts were misinterpreted by His enemies as threats to their status and way of life, but looking back from our vantage point we can easily see He was only trying to show them the truth that would give them real status and establish them in the way of life that transcends the grave.  Their error is sadly duplicated by many people today who commit the ultimate tragedy of failing to recognize the eternal value of Jesus' deeds to every individual.

      It was the people of Decapolis in Transjordan who paid Jesus the justly and uniquely earned tribute, "He has done all things well."  God approved thereof without qualification, but He Himself bestowed upon Jesus the greatest honor, when He announced from heaven, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," (Mat. 3:17).

LIMITING THE POWER OF JESUS

Mrk. 6:5 ... "He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them."

      Numerous times in the Old Testament and several times in the New Testament God is called "almighty."  In our modern discussions of God we apply to Him the word "omnipotent."  Both the Biblical word and our modern word signify the same idea, that the power of God is infinite.  It has no limit.  Anything which God wills to do He is able to do.  There is no force in existence that can withstand His power.  Paul declares of Christ that "in Him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily," (Col. 2:9).  God's power was available to Jesus as He walked the earth and completed the mission upon which His Father had sent Him.  He demonstrated that power day by day as He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, raised the dead, cast out demons, stilled storms, and walked on water.  So, what does this statement mean that "He could do no mighty work there?"  In what way was the power of Jesus hindered on this particular occasion?

      Jesus had just come to "His hometown," (v.1), that is, He had returned to Nazareth in Galilee to the people who had known Him from childhood.  On this Sabbath Day He entered their synagogue to study the Scriptures and worship, just as He had done hundreds of times in the past.  On this occasion, however, He was asked to read the assigned text and teach a lesson from it.  But His countrymen were not prepared for what He told them.  Jesus' teaching was so full of wisdom, perfect in application, and movingly presented that the people "were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things?  What is the wisdom given to him?'"* (v.2).  They thought they knew Him as one from their own town and cited their familiarity with His family.  When they put it all together, however, it was too much for them, and "they took offense at Him," (v.3).  It was due to this climate of thought prevailing in Nazareth that Jesus "could do no mighty work there."

      The explanation to this limitation of Jesus' power is revealed in the report that "He marveled because of their unbelief," (v.5).  Although His power had no bounds, Jesus Himself made its demonstration conditional upon the faith of those who were to benefit from it.  When the faith was there, He used His power to do whatever needed to be done.  But if the faith was absent, He withheld His power and would not act to benefit people who could have used His help immeasurably.  The Four Gospels contain many accounts of both situations occurring during Jesus' ministry.  On one occasion (Mrk. 9:14-29) a man brought his son who was grievously afflicted mentally and physically by a demon within him.  When the father came before Jesus, he made this remarkable request, "If  You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  Imagine saying to Jesus, "If you can do anything."  In other words, "Jesus,  if You have enough power, would You do thus and so?"  Jesus repeated the man's words, "If you can!" as an exclamation and very promptly replied, "All things are possible for one who believes."

      Jesus' power is truly infinite, but He makes its application to our benefit conditional upon our faith.  He once said to a man, "According to your faith be it done to you," (Mat. 9:29).  When it appears that the power of God is not being exerted among us, it is never because His power is inadequate.  It is rather because our faith has grown weak and thin, and the Lord will not demonstrate His power in the context of unbelief.  God responds with power to our prayer appeals, but only when those requests rise from hearts full of faith, (see Jas. 1:5-7).  Let no one think that the lack of demonstration of divine power signifies that God "has lost it."  God, though He is the "Ancient of Days" (Dan. 7:13), is not an "Old Man," (as He is sometimes vulgarly called), who is now in a stage of senility.  Totally to the contrary!  We never need to look any further for an explanation than our own pathetic lack of faith.

* Contrary to my policy of capitalizing words referring to divinity, I did not here capital "man" and "him," which refer to Jesus.  This is a direct quotation from the statements of the Nazarenes, who themselves did not believe Jesus was divine.    

THE COST OF EXCLUDING JESUS

Mrk. 5:17 ... "And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region."

      At one point in His Galilean ministry Jesus sailed eastward across the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes.  Nearby was a cemetery, and among its tombs lived a wild man possessed of not just one, but an entire legion of demons.  Although he had often been caught and bound with chains, he had always managed to break them off.  No one could tame him, so he spent his days and nights roaming the hills and cutting himself with rocks.  When he saw Jesus, however, he was driven by the demons to run and bow down before Him in fear.  The man spoke, but his words came from the devils within.  They readily confessed the divinity of Jesus and then begged Him not to torment them.  But Jesus drove them into a herd of 2000 swine, which stampeded over a cliff into the sea and were drowned.  Those who tended the hogs ran into the nearby villages to report what had happened.

      The owners and other people quickly came to see for themselves what had occurred.  To their utter amazement they beheld the wild man, now fully clothed, rational, and calm, sitting with Jesus.  A crisis suddenly confronted these people.  On the one hand they had lost a small fortune in the destruction of their 2000 hogs; on the other hand they had regained their deranged countryman as a healthy, normal citizen.  The one responsible for these dramatic changes was the strange Teacher who had come into their midst from across the sea.  Their crisis was what to do about this great event.  Should they rejoice in the restoration of a wild man to health and sanity, or should they lament the loss of their hogs?  Which meant more to them, a human life or the monetary value of their hogs? 

      They quickly made up their minds.  The hogs and their value meant the most, and Jesus was to blame for their loss.  So, "they began to beg Him to depart from their region."  Jesus had surely come to heal their sick, restore strength to their infirmed, and above all to share with them His precious words of life.  But because they refused to welcome Him and urged Him to leave, He indeed left at once.  With His disciples He went back into the boat and sailed back from whence they had come.  Jesus does not stay where He is not wanted.  He loved the Gadarenes and wanted to bestow God's blessings upon them, but He also respected their liberty to choose and allowed them to expel Him from their country.  Jesus does not force Himself into the life of anyone.  He allows everyone the right to reject Him and shut Him out from their presence. 

      The Gadarenes had a poor sense of value.  They esteemed the worth of 2000 hogs to be greater than a man's health and sanity.  They preferred a wild man howling in the hills to the Galilean who had power over demons and the mysterious forces of nature.  It is no different today.  Christ is unwanted in much of our society.  He and His doctrine have been excluded from our schools in favor of philosophies and social theories that demoralize.  He is not welcome in our legislatures where greed rules, nor in our courts where criminals get more consideration than their victims.  Jesus is caricatured and ridiculed in public entertainment where violence, avarice, and carnality are extolled.  He is shut out of vast numbers of homes that allow selfishness, moral laxity, and indifference to virtue enter and take control.  When Jesus is ordered out of our society and its many institutions, He leaves and does not force the issue.  The Gadarenes may never have realized what their choice cost them, just as American society apparently does not realize what its exclusion of Jesus is costing it.  Already it is leading to a downward spiral of morals, social health and stability, and the depreciation of human value that will eventually end in our ruin.