God Said Everything He Wanted to Say in Jesus
November 2014
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son He created the universe. The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God.
-- Hebrews 1:1-3
Reflect
This is a power-packed passage, one that can really impact the way we approach reading about the life of Jesus. In essence, the author of Hebrews here tells us that God said everything He wanted to say – about life, about servanthood, about interpersonal communication, about love, about everything – in the life of Jesus.
We should look to Jesus as not only our Savior, but also the perfect representation of God’s opinion on everything we come across in life.
Rewind
It is very easy to ignore the way Jesus lived His life, and to view His specific choices and priorities as the result of His role as Savior. This removes the power of His life, and essentially says the only important part of His 33 years on our planet was His death, burial, and resurrection.
But the daily life of Jesus is equally important, and deeply reflective of the priorities of God the Father. Indeed, it has rightly been said that Jesus was the only person who ever lived His life in precisely the way God intended. Stated differently, Jesus shows us what God had in mind when He created humanity in the first place.
React
Once we choose to give the life of Jesus the same gravity as His death, burial, and resurrection, we have a series of questions we can ask about any moment or topic we come across in our life.
1) Did Jesus encounter something like this in His life?
This may seem to be a ridiculous question, but Jesus experienced many of the same events we do today. Jesus came across racial prejudice. He came face-to-face with groups of people calling for dramatic violence in response to a person’s mistake. He was even at a party that ran out of liquor. The truth is that first-century Palestine is not all that different from 21st-century America.
If we can view Jesus’ response to a similar moment in His life, we will be able to see the heart of God in response to our own circumstances.
2) What radical thing would Jesus do in my situation?
Here’s the thing about Jesus – He never did what was expected of Him. Jesus is constantly creating an Option C for every A-or-B circumstance set before Him. For just a glimpse of the Option-C Jesus, read Mark 12.
When He is asked whether to pay taxes or not, He basically ignores the question and advises people to honor God and government. When the Sadducees try to trip Him up with an intense theological debate, Jesus instead teaches about angels.
Jesus is always looking to stir the pot and draw others into deeper waters. We should look to do the same.
3) What if I don’t know much about the life of Jesus?
That’s okay. We all start somewhere, and it is easy to start today. Start reading one of the Gospels. Mark is probably the easiest to read first, because it is the action movie of the Gospel. Every moment begins with a sense of urgency, and moves quickly from scene to scene.
Whether you choose Mark or another Gospel, start somewhere. And start today.
-- Hebrews 1:1-3
Reflect
This is a power-packed passage, one that can really impact the way we approach reading about the life of Jesus. In essence, the author of Hebrews here tells us that God said everything He wanted to say – about life, about servanthood, about interpersonal communication, about love, about everything – in the life of Jesus.
We should look to Jesus as not only our Savior, but also the perfect representation of God’s opinion on everything we come across in life.
Rewind
It is very easy to ignore the way Jesus lived His life, and to view His specific choices and priorities as the result of His role as Savior. This removes the power of His life, and essentially says the only important part of His 33 years on our planet was His death, burial, and resurrection.
But the daily life of Jesus is equally important, and deeply reflective of the priorities of God the Father. Indeed, it has rightly been said that Jesus was the only person who ever lived His life in precisely the way God intended. Stated differently, Jesus shows us what God had in mind when He created humanity in the first place.
React
Once we choose to give the life of Jesus the same gravity as His death, burial, and resurrection, we have a series of questions we can ask about any moment or topic we come across in our life.
1) Did Jesus encounter something like this in His life?
This may seem to be a ridiculous question, but Jesus experienced many of the same events we do today. Jesus came across racial prejudice. He came face-to-face with groups of people calling for dramatic violence in response to a person’s mistake. He was even at a party that ran out of liquor. The truth is that first-century Palestine is not all that different from 21st-century America.
If we can view Jesus’ response to a similar moment in His life, we will be able to see the heart of God in response to our own circumstances.
2) What radical thing would Jesus do in my situation?
Here’s the thing about Jesus – He never did what was expected of Him. Jesus is constantly creating an Option C for every A-or-B circumstance set before Him. For just a glimpse of the Option-C Jesus, read Mark 12.
When He is asked whether to pay taxes or not, He basically ignores the question and advises people to honor God and government. When the Sadducees try to trip Him up with an intense theological debate, Jesus instead teaches about angels.
Jesus is always looking to stir the pot and draw others into deeper waters. We should look to do the same.
3) What if I don’t know much about the life of Jesus?
That’s okay. We all start somewhere, and it is easy to start today. Start reading one of the Gospels. Mark is probably the easiest to read first, because it is the action movie of the Gospel. Every moment begins with a sense of urgency, and moves quickly from scene to scene.
Whether you choose Mark or another Gospel, start somewhere. And start today.
