Jesus the Christ Chapter 28
Some thoughts:
Somewhat off topic but applicable, my parents knew someone who named their child Zerubbabel.
I’m struck by how Jesus never said the wrong thing. He didn’t respond off the cuff, He always responded in such a way that His words said exactly what He meant. (Even if those listening didn’t always get it.) But He obviously listened to what people were saying and what they intended, and answered accordingly.
Seriously, sometimes I don’t know how Jesus kept His patience with the disciples. He tells them Lazarus is sleeping and that He needs to go wake Him, and they take it completely literally that they need to go travel into a dangerous place so that Jesus can be an alarm clock for a sick man. I can just imagine Jesus saying “Lazarus is dead” and them going, “….oh.”
It’s touching that Jesus was so moved by Mary, Martha’s mourning that He wept. He knew that in moments their sorrow would be joy, but He still took the time to empathize instead of rushing past their feelings to fix the problem.
Oh, I love this example of grace in the story of Lazarus. “All that human agency could do was left to man.” Man could tell Christ of Lazarus’ death, tell Him where the body was laid, roll the stone away, take off the funeral clothes. But only Christ could raise Him from the dead.
Your thoughts?
I never noticed that before, that Christ empathized with Mary and Martha. We so often want to fix people, but like it said in the previous chapter, suffering brings us to ourselves. We need to suffer, and Christ let them suffer. Maybe they needed that to be able to say:
“Yea Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”
One thing really stood out to me as kinda predestination-ish, and I wanted to get your thoughts:
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life…” (this is p. 456).
I thought we became part of his flock as we heeded his voice, but this seems to imply that some sheep are part of his flock and just don’t know it. That makes me uncomfortable somehow…
I think it’s more a matter of us excluding ourselves- we all begin as part of His flock, simply by merit of the “sheephouse” we’re born into- this world. (I know there’s probably a word for sheephouse, but what do I know for sheep?) Then as we grow, we show that we are not His sheep by not listening, because by definition, His sheep do listen. And sheep that are not of His flock don’t get to stay with the flock. They have to go deal with wolves on their own.
I do agree, if read that there are certain people who are of the flock, and certain people who just aren’t, it’s totally unfair, and that’s not what Christ teaches.
hmmm…good points, maryanne. it’s kinda like how we become the sons (or children) of christ (i can’t remember exactly how it goes, but it’s in the b.o.m.) as we keep his commandments. this is not a good post, as i don’t have my cite. will get back to this point…