Jesus. Most likely the most famous person in all history. Controversial too – Did he exist? Did he not exist? Was he a Prophet? A Sage? A Rabbi? Was he truly the Son of God?¹ Or was he all that and more? There is so much that can be said about Jesus. So far, over 50 films have been made about him, and over 65,000 books have been written about him ². I could make Jesus the subject of my blog every week for the next 10 years, and I probably still wouldn’t cover all that can be said.

For one, He is hard to pigeon-hole, and at first glance, he almost seems like a contradiction ³ …He is both the lion and the lamb; He is called the Prince of Peace, famously quoted for telling his disciples that those who take up the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52), and yet he tells the same disciples “he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” (Luke 22:36). He urges obedience to the Law of Moses (Matthew 5:17-19), and yet technically breaks it to heal a man (Mark 3:1-6). He made grand, provocative claims about Himself (If you are familiar with the context and culture of the times then, you will understand how scandalous it must have been for Him to call himself the Son of God, and to claim to be able to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. The equivalent today would be someone claiming to be able to destroy, say St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, and rebuild it in 3 days). Yet multiple times, after performing a miracle, he told the recipient to not tell a soul (Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43-44; Mark 5:43 are some examples). As Walter Wink pointed out, in reference to Jesus, “if he had never lived, we would not have been able to invent him.”

One of the things that strikes me the most about Jesus though is His heart for people. He is the very embodiment of the word compassion. He loved, I mean truly, truly loved people. All kinds of people… even people that society did not want to touch with a barge pole – from prostitutes to tax collectors (for context, in those days, people loathed tax collectors, probably because a lot of them were corrupt. It’s not exactly as if people have grown fond of tax collectors over the years though, but I digress 😊). He had a reputation for being a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”(Matthew 11:19; 9:10-12). He enjoyed good food (you and me, Jesus 😊) and wine, and he liked a good party.

He was willing to break the Sabbath law and risk offending the Pharisees just to heal a man he saw suffering infirmity. He looked at this man whose hand was withered. He thought of how difficult life would have been for this man, not being able to work for a living, and probably having to deal with scorn and rejection. He threw some questions at those present, received no answers, and healed the man (Mark 3:1-6). Bear in mind that someone had once been stoned to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day (Numbers 15:35). He would literally risk death to heal. And this was just one out of numerous miracles of healing he performed, driven by compassion, and a desire to reflect the heart of the Father.

His first miracle recorded in John 2:1-11, before his time had come, was another act of compassion. Understanding the culture and context of the times is so important in studying a lot of these acts. There was a wedding in Cana, and they ran out of wine. Now, if you have any experience of certain cultures in the world, such as in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, you would understand how important their parties were to them. They loved to party, and I like that Jesus blended with, and partied right along with them! Some of these parties would go on for days. They were a big deal. Guests had to be properly taken care of. The shame, the stigma of not being able to provide enough food and drink in such occasions could follow a family for a long time. Now picture Jesus, still gearing up for ministry, hasn’t performed any miracles so far, cheerfully enjoying himself at the party, maybe enjoying the last few days of the “calm before the storm”. Then his mother comes up to him and tells him “they have no more wine”. How did his mother know he could do anything about it? Well, he was her son after all, and mothers do have a sixth sense 😊. A part of me wonders if he had performed a few small miracles at home which his family would have witnessed. So maybe they had insider information as to what he was capable of? The Bible doesn’t say though, so that’s just me wondering. Anyway, he tells his mother “my hour has not yet come”. His mother basically just ignores him and tells the servants “do whatever he tells you” (I’m smiling as I type this, got to love Mary!) He instructs the servants to fill the jars with water, they obey him, and he transforms all that water into the best wine they have ever tasted, so much so that even the master of the banquet had to comment on it. You know the feeling you get when you taste something, probably not expecting much, but it completely blows your mind, and your eyes widen, your lips smile and your tongue dances with joy? You want to take another bite or sip, but you also have an urgent need to find out what exactly is in it, and who the chef is, if only to tell them how amazing their creation is? It was that good. The temptation experience shows that he was reluctant to bend laws of nature to prove anything, plus his time had not yet come. Yet, he turned water into wine to spare a family humiliation (and obey his mother!). He did this again when he fed the multitudes, because he could not bear to see all those people go hungry (Matthew 14:13-21; Matthew 15:29-39). The thought of people not having eaten all day, hunger gnawing at their stomachs… his heart of compassion just would not let him.

He also loved to praise other people. Philip Yancey notes: “When he worked a miracle, he often deflected credit back on the recipient: “Your faith has healed you.” He called Nathanael “A true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” On John the Baptist, he said there was none greater born of women. Volatile Peter he renamed “the Rock””.

Jesus also seemed to have a heart for women and the examples below illustrate this. Mary and Martha were his friends. And He seemed to be the kind of friend you could be straight up with. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?”, “Lord if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.” (Luke 10:40; John 11:21,32). He was also open about how he felt, there was no trying to be macho, hiding his feelings and pretending to be brave. In Gethsemane, just before his crucifixion, he told his disciples “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). A heartfelt cry. No pretence, no airs, just undiluted openness.

He shunned the societal norm of not associating with Samaritans. He took the time to chat with the Samaritan woman at the well. She had had 5 husbands, and was living with a 6th who she wasn’t even married to (so you can just imagine how the society viewed her). And yet, Jesus, who knew all this, chose to spend time with her, to ask her for water, to listen to her, to talk to her, to tell her about living water (John 4). Jesus saw the person, the human being, completely stripped of all the labels society placed. How I strive to be like Jesus! You don’t need to pretend with him, there is no need to put on airs with him. The people that got along best with Jesus were those who did not pretend. The people that rubbed him the wrong way were those who pretended to be what they were not.

While visiting a town called Nain, he saw the funeral procession. The only son of a woman had died. She had already lost her husband, and now, this…losing her child. I can’t even begin to imagine her anguish, her sorrow, at losing her only son. When Jesus saw her, his heart went out to her. He saw her sorrow, a heart filled with pain, a woman who was at breaking point. He approached her and said “don’t cry”. Then he went on to raise the woman’s son back to life! He could not bear to have her continue to endure that kind of anguish, He just couldn’t! (Luke 7: 11 – 16)

When talking about the great tribulation, he says “And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!” (Matthew 24:19, ESV). As Mary Gordon notes “how many men would take into consideration the hardship of pregnancy and nursing?”

He obviously struck a chord with people. One day, while at a dinner party, a woman who was a “notorious sinner” approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume (think designer stuff here, worth over a whole year’s wages!) (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14: 3-9; Luke 7:36-50). She broke the jar and poured it on him, a sinner anointing a saint. Then she wept, washing his dusty feet with her salty tears, and wiping them with her long beautiful dark hair. She didn’t care where she was, or who saw her. Remember, things were different then, so even showing her hair would have been scandalous. Where others saw waste, Jesus saw a lavish act of love. Where others criticised, he praised. Where others wanted her out of sight and forgotten, Jesus made sure that generations ahead would hear of what she had done. Sometimes I wonder what prompted her to carry out such an extravagant act. But the more I discover about Jesus, the more understanding dawns on me. She was a witness, a recipient of the love of Jesus. And like most normal recipients of love, she felt compelled to reciprocate that love.

The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery, and wanted to stone her, as this was the punishment in the Law of Moses. (I always thought adultery was an act involving two people, but there you go, maybe for the first and only time, it was done solo, and so was going to be punished solo (Uh huh). However this was another trap, so he didn’t even dignify them with an answer. He just kept doodling in the dust. But they kept pestering Him, so he simply said “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”. A long speech was unnecessary, one sentence was all it took. And it hit home. One by one, her accusers quietly slipped away. Soon, just two people were left: the woman and Jesus, the only one who had no sin and could be the first to stone her”. And what did he do? He simply told her ‘They’ve all gone huh?, not even one condemned you? Well, neither will I. Go and sin no more’ (John 8:1-11). And so, he saved the woman from a fate of death by stoning. He is the Saviour, after all. He did not ignore the sin, but He did not condemn the sinner either.

This and other incidences showed He was not only The Comeback King, he was the King of comebacks. He could be sarcastic when the occasion called for it. When the Jews wanted to stone him, his response was “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” (John 10:31-32).

And when Pilate was questioning Jesus, just before he was crucified, Jesus was silent. So Pilate said, ‘you don’t want to talk to me? Don’t you know I have the power to either free you or crucify you?’ Jesus reply was basically, ‘You mean the power my Father gave you? Apart from that, which other power do you have? None’. (John 19:10-11, paraphrased).

He was an extraordinary story teller, a master of allegory. His parables portrayed powerful truths, using illustrations from day-to-day life that ordinary folk could relate to. As a writer, this of course intrigues me.

The wisdom in His responses to questions never ceases to fascinate. An example is when the Pharisees wanted to trap him with their question on whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not (Matthew 22:15-22). Interestingly before they asked him a question, they also pointed out some very important truths about his character. “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You teach the truth about what God wants people to do. And you treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are.” (v. 16, CEV). Whether it was to flatter him or not, I don’t know, but either way, they were right. Anyway, he leads them down an interesting line of questioning, and finally ends with the famous answer “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Even they were amazed and left him alone after that.

After watching a cartoon about Jesus, I asked my 4 year old what he learnt. His response: “That Jesus can do things that nobody else can do.” Considering that those actual words were not said in the cartoon, I think he made a pretty accurate and powerful deduction.

Ultimately, he made the ultimate sacrifice, he gave his life in exchange for ours. This amazing Son of Man thought that us mere mortals – fickle as the weather yet obstinate even in the face of obvious truth, witnesses to great miracles and yet continually blinded by doubt, desperate for love yet rejecting the most powerful love of all – were worth dying for. Despite the pain, the sorrow, the crushing loneliness that lay ahead, he went ahead with this sacrifice. Indeed, He destroyed the temple and rebuilt it in three days, just as he had promised. And one day, one glorious day, The Comeback King will come back again!

As humans, we leave a will behind to ensure our loved ones are taken care of after we die. Jesus went a step further. He knew how bereft his followers would be after he was gone, how uncertain and terrifying it would be for them. So he left his Holy Spirit with us, to be our helper, teacher, comforter, counsellor, strengthener and intercessor (John 14:26). He made sure that we would never be alone, even after he was no longer physically here. How compassionate, perceptive and powerful!

I don’t know about you, but this man Jesus deserves my heart, my soul, my life! He is my raison d’être. I am a regular stumbler, falling over even the smallest of pebbles on my journey with him. Surely I must frustrate him? Surely he should have given up on me by now? But, does he? No. Instead he looks at me with love-filled eyes, reaches for my hand, picks me up again, and keeps me walking. When my feet give way, and I feel like I can’t go on anymore, he carries me gently on his shoulders and keeps me moving. I’m alive because he gives me life. I live without fear of death because he destroyed death like a boss and lived again. I love because he loves me. The more I know Jesus, the more I want to know him, and the more I want others to know him too. This man whose birth divided time ⁴, and whose death divided the veil of the Temple, removing the barriers, and allowing us all to fellowship with him and to be his friends. Because of this, we know that no matter what we have done, and no matter what happens, NOTHING, not tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall ever, ever, ever be able to separate us from His Love ⁵.

Additional Notes

¹ Interestingly, as Philip Yancey points out, “demons never failed to recognise him as the “Holy one of God” or “son of the Most High”, it was human beings who questioned his identity.

² According to the editor of World Christian Encyclopaedia, David Barrett, there are 65,571 books on Jesus in World Libraries. And this was even back in 1997, more have been written since then! Unfortunately I could not find more recent statistics.

³ When you study more though, you realise that these are not contradictions, but ultimately show different aspects of his personality, and that he had a heart for God first, and for people. This meant that he was not particularly bothered about his reputation, and did not follow rules to the letter, but used wisdom and compassion to assess situations and respond accordingly. He would have also known that sometimes, for there to be peace, unfortunately a fight may be necessary.

⁴ B.C. – Before Christ; A.D. – Anno Domini (the year Jesus was born).

⁵ Romans 8:35-39 (KJV)

The Comeback King: https://youtu.be/qShsio3O6MY

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUtSx_en8dM