So, today, I keep having this thought in my mind – that notion of what, exactly, is it…what was it about Jesus Christ that was just so amazing? What was it that was so scary and so “astonishing” – I don’t know that this word always implies that those around him were eternally impressed as much as they were shaking in their boots – speechless. To watch this man, fully God, and fully man – interact on Earth and communicate the love of God….and push people internally to their limits where they are standing face to face with God and looking into the mirrors of their souls….and handing over their hearts to Jesus. This must have been a sight. It must have been awe inspiring. I would have freaked out. Maybe I still do.
Dead made alive. Freakshows made anew and normal. Prostitutes made whole. Hellions changed-trajectoried lives. Wounded healed. Lying, cussing sailors committing their lives to this man and “his teachings”. Something about him seems so odd – so peculiar, so mysterious yet so amazingly attractive.
I may pick up on this thought again later….I have been sitting with it this a.m. since coming from (in Mathew 8) Jesus crossing the lake to escape crowds and teach His disciples and having told them about who He is and healing illnesses and speaking of true faith and being a good man (Centurion) and what does Jesus truly desire? He spoke of ‘mercy, not sacrifice’. Then, he told Mathew, “Follow Me”. This was after the demon-possessed man was cured from Legion. This was just before a group of friends were brave enough to trail Jesus and His disciples one more time to hear what He had to say….and bring their paralyzed friend to the feet of the Lord. Except there was so much more – obstacles, people, challenges…and another message from the Lord.
Again – astonished. People were amazed. Probably freaked out and yet so abundantly desiring to take a gander into their own lives they didn’t know what to do with themselves. Messiah? Yup. Their idea…nope. He just seems like something else.
What if you took a fresh look at Jesus? What if you read the “gospels” and renewed whatever outlook you have on this man they called Jesus? Would you be astonished?
I’m shaking in my boots…..and when I sit in His word, time stands still and the Lord begins to shape and mold the insides of me like I were his all along. No wonder He is who He is. I am His.
…more later…
Blessings,
-ao
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