Jesus, you silly rabbit

Jesus cracks me up. It amazes me that someone who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8) can walk the earth and be so unpredictable. I said this in an earlier post, and I will repeat it, 1 - because it’s hilarious, and 2 - because it’s on point. I think that there were times when the disciples thought they were smarter than Jesus for a second. Almost like Jesus was a foreign exchange student who didn’t fully understand the language or the customs and who sometimes said funny things. There are many examples of Jesus - or was it the disciples??? - being so far out in left field that it not only totally challenged the way the disciples thought and believed, but it - well, it angered people to the point of killing Him.

Jesus, the man, was God but shoved into and confined to a human body, with a human mind, and a human soul. I do not know exactly how it worked, but somehow, Jesus - who IS life and everything that exists, transformed into flesh and bones and had to think and process and live just as we live. Before Abraham, He WAS (John 8:58); Jesus IS the Word of God that formed all that is (John 1:1); “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col 1:16-17). Somewhere in His manly consciousness, He knew and sustained all things; but it seemed that only through prayer - LOTS of prayer - and quality alone time with His Father, that the awareness and expression of all that He was could manifest on the earth.

The disciples, however, did not have a complete revelation of all this yet (it gets better for them in Acts). So they questioned Him, and challenged Him, and, at times, seemed very frustrated with Him. Not unlike us.

When the woman with the issue of blood intentionally touched his clothes (Mark 5:31), Jesus asked out loud who touched Him. BUT, the disciples – What do you mean who touched you?? There are a hundreds of people smashing into you. How are we supposed to know who touched you? (We’ll call this, “Really, Jesus?”)

When the boat they were in was seemingly about to capsize (Mark 4:38), Jesus was sleeping on a pillow (which was a QVC blockbuster, I’m sure, after proof one can sleep on it through a tumultuous storm). BUT, the disciples – We’re going to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee! (We’ll call this, “Jesus, I’m dying here and you’re doing nothing.”)

When Jesus walked on the ocean water toward their boat (John 6:19) - It’s a ghoooooosttt! (We’ll call this, ”That is terrifying and definitely not Jesus.”)

When Jesus washed the disciples dirty feet (John 13:8) - Absolutely no way, no how are you going to do what you just said you would do. Nope. (We’ll call this, “You’re too good to be true, Jesus. I don’t accept it.”)

And these reactions came from people who spent time alone with Jesus, people to whom Jesus fully explained his teachings and parables (Mark 4:34).

The ways and lifestyle of Jesus were maddening to the masses. He shook up everything they thought they knew, cared nothing about what they cared about, yet He attracted everything and everyone to Him and the earth never saw a more compassionate and authoritative vessel of love. He embodied it all, everything that is effective and meaningful in this life.

His effectiveness hinged on obedience to God at all costs, including hurting people’s feelings. Jesus excluded people in a given moment who hindered His mission, God’s mission, of preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, setting captives free, restoring sight to the blind, releasing the oppressed (Luke 4:18), and every good thing that He did. In Mark 5, He disallowed anyone in the crowd to follow Him to Jairus’ house except three disciples, and when He arrived at Jairus’ house, He allowed only the same three disciples and the parents of the dead child to enter her room so that He could be God to the 12-year old girl and restore her breath of life.

Time and again, the power of Jesus was weakened by large crowds, especially crowds who grew up with Him - quite the opposite of our dearly-beloved “power in numbers” and “good ole home-town” mentality. Jesus marveled when He went back to his home town, and because of their unbelief, could do “no mighty work there except heal a few sick people.” (Mark 6:5-6). It is an inspiring and bold example that His next action was to circuit the villages and start teaching. He saw a problem and immediately addressed it Himself. They were hindered by past experiences, and did not have the knowledge to recognize their long-awaited savior was among them. We can not believe in something we know nothing about. Hosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

He also repeatedly requested of those whom He helped to not broadcast the miraculous events. Today, He might say, “Do NOT post this on Facebook, Instragram, Twitter, and definitely not Snap Chat, although Tumblr is fine.” =) Was He saying to us now to never tell people about the good things God has done for us? NO. This is not consistent with His other instructions to us. He was respecting the timing of God and applying wisdom in when and what to say for the good of all (as opposed to what makes us feel good or important in the moment).

Jesus had a way about Him - THE Way. Not our way; God’s way. Jesus was in perfect alignment with the ways of God every day of His human life. I think about this and am reminded why He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)- because we can’t do what He did! If you think you can, it should occur to you that you haven’t yet (take a peek in the rear-view mirror). So with that, it’s too late. It’s already too late for us to be our own savior; it’s already too late for us to live a perfect life; it’s already too late to believe that all our learning and our reading and our healthy diet and our record-breaking lap swim and our husband or our kids and our new house and our missions trip and our new promotion and our volunteering at the cancer center for kids or anything else is the way. Why? Because we still get angry in traffic; we still lie; we still do things we shouldn’t do when no one’s looking; we still get jealous and hate people who are not like us, even with the house, the volunteering, the healthy lifestyle, and the new title. We need help to be motivated to do good. We need to be cleansed of our shame, fears, and addictions to be free. We need to experience forgiveness to be able to forgive. Only Jesus can help.

God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). When we’re saying to ourselves, “Really, Jesus?”; “Jesus, I’m dying here and you’re doing nothing.”; “This is terrifying and definitely not Jesus.”; or “This is too good to be true, I don’t accept it,” we should remember that Jesus always did things that seemed strange and not intuitive to the “normal” humans that observed Him. He did the unexpected and unusual (mixing spit and mud to make miracle cream (John 9:6), healing when He should praying (Mark 3:1-6), and praying when He should be working the crowds (Mark 6:31)). If our reactions to the events of life are predictable, prescribed, intuitive, common, or popular, Jesus is most likely observing us, somewhat amused, but mostly eager to help when asked, thinking what silly foreign exchange students we are, living on the earth for so long still unknowing and unfamiliar with the language and the customs of the Kingdom of God.