Jesus life was unmistakably controversial. Jesus, in His brief time here on earth, touched many lives and arguably had more of an impact than anyone in the history of our world. It’s been over 2,000 years since his time here and we are still talking about Him. And not only are we talking about Him but we are doing it passionately, much the way it was discussed in His day. Because of His controversial was of being, the conspiracies that surrounded Him, His defiance against religious leaders and their way of being, Jesus made many enemies. Many of Jesus enemies were in positions of power and authority as well. Because of this reality, Jesus was betrayed by his people and sentenced to death.
Without understanding God’s own conspiracy to redeem us, you might look at this and say it is craziness. Our redemption is not the only thing I believe God is after though. If you remember, God ends the Old Testament with 400 years of silence. God was frustrated with his people. Much of His frustration is what we looked at in Jesus defiance of the way of being that the religious leaders had.
Malachi 2:7-9 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
After these words from God at the end of the Old Testament, there are 400 years of silence from God. When we hear him again in the New Testament, here is what we hear coming from John the Baptist.
Matthew 3:7-9 “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
It’s as if God has picked up right where he left off. He is frustrated with what Israel had made of the religious pursuit of Him. The religious leaders had somehow come to believe that they had merited favor with God and all who followed them had this same favor.
What was God up to in all of this? What else was Jesus doing? Was he attempting a coup with the people of power in Israel? Was He showing courage in questioning their motives? Or was He just being foolish and making many enemies along the way because of their unquestioned authority in Israel?
It is apparent that with the arrival of Jesus everything was changing. It is also apparent that we have a hard time with change. The religious leaders were not unique in this. Any time we are in a pace of comfort, it is hard to move. Jesus came with a “subversive intention” but not in the way we would expect. He wasn’t coming to overthrow governments and topple kings. He was coming to reconnect us with God. He did through His death, burial and resurrection and He did it by helping us see and understand the heart of God.
It’s easy to get lost in our religion. We like structure and systems and they aren’t all bad. Where they become bad is when they become bigger than the God we proclaim to worship and they forget the very ones He is after. That is what happened in Israel. They forgot their mission and became an elitist society among the religious leaders. We are always at risk of doing the same. That is why we must always remember and put Jesus first in everything we do and love the ones he is after.
Have a great week!
Pastor Stan and Polly
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