If our lives had a mantra, one of mine would be “Christianity/Jesus/the Bible doesn’t exist to fix our behavior, but to unveil the majesty of God!” (Though a glimpse of the Holy God really should make us want to rectify our behavior wherever it is harmful and unloving).
I have been enjoying the book of Matthew recently. The last few chapters I’ve read have all seemed to be pointing at the same Truth, like a bass drum keeping rhythm for the whole band, or like some sort of a chart where one, main point is cited in the center of the equation with bunch of arrows pointing from other thoughts directly toward the central theme. The central theme is this: The works of God were intended to unveil the supremacy of God in Christ! (Perhaps that’s true of us, as well).
I’d recommend a read-a-long, because the Bible is WAY better than any blog post I could write, and I am about to speed through some stories that will make more sense if you know them yourself (if you don’t have a Bible, comment on this blog, and I will buy you one! There is nothing in the world I’d rather spend money on than a Bible!). Here is my bullet point summary of Matthew 8:1-11:19: Jesus touches and heals a man with leprosy, has an intriguing conversation with a Centurion (we will come back to this), heals Peter’s MIL, calms the sea (also revisiting), delivers two demon-possessed men, heals a paralytic after telling him his sins are forgiven and reading the minds of His nearby accusers (we will revisit this one, as well), calls Matthew to follow and teaches us all (especially His disciples) a lesson in grace, heals a women who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years, raises a dead girl to life, heals 2 blind men, heals another demoniac, tells His disciples to pray for laborers to help with the Kingdom work, sends His disciples out on their first “mission trip” without Him, has a pep-talk with them about the persecution they will endure and strengthening them to know that, even in the midst of the persecution, they will have opportunities to share the majesty of a Kingdom that matters more than anything this world could offer, and finally, has a conversation with John’s disciples, and then His disciples about John (also revisiting this one). I skipped over a couple of things, but that’s why you must read it yourself.
Imagine this post like a jumper plane, touching down in a few places, while surveying the rest of the land without landing.
Let’s begin with the Centurion. This is a pretty amazing interaction because a Jesus uses the faith of a Roman soldier to humble His followers and teach us about faith (just as soon-after, He will use a Jewish tax collector-traitor to teach us about grace). When I was reading this a few days ago, it hit me that the thing that made the Centurion’s faith outstanding was His understanding of Christ’s authority (go read the story yourself- Matthew 8:5-10). This is the lens I began to look at all of these other interactions through. Jesus makes a lot of people’s lives better by healing them of affliction, and liberating them from demon-possession, etc. But I began to see that all of these miracles were intended to show us the sovereignty of Christ over His creation.
Soon after this interaction, we see His disciples being stunned in the same way I’ve just been by glimpsing the Centurion’s faith. They are terrified of the storm thrashing against their small fishing boat, dumping wave-loads of water onto the deck. Their Captain arises, and speaks with the same voice that spoke the world into existence. His disciples are stunned as they realize this Carpenter-turned-Miracle-Worker from the wrong side of the tracks has authority over the wind and the sea!!! He can not only heal people’s afflictions, but all of Creation is under His authority!
A few verses later, we see Jesus, expressing His own authority, not only over sickness, or natural disasters, but over the most tremendous affliction of mankind: Our sinfulness. In the beginning of Matthew 9, they bring Jesus a paralytic man, expecting Jesus could make their friend walk. And He can. He will. But first, He desires to use this momentary affliction to enlighten us to His power over the eternal affliction we all carry. Jesus looks at this man, and the faith of his friends, and He says “Take courage, son, your sins are forgiven.” Well, if this doesn’t throw the judgmental scribes into a tizzy! They begin internally accusing Jesus of blasphemy. But Jesus, once again, is going to prove Himself. He speaks directly to the thoughts they haven’t spoken out loud, showing them that He can read minds, as well. Then, He turns to the man and proves His words are true by granting the man the ability to walk.
I want to pause and do the fly-over view of all these miracles. In a few short chapters, we see Jesus doing absolutely amazing things: Healing lepers and the hemorrhaging lady who had tried everything she possibly could to be free, casting out demons, raising the dead, etc. Yet all of these were only temporary afflictions. Sure, they may have lasted the course of a person’s life, but they weren’t eternal (well, with the exception of the demon-possessions, apart from a work of deliverance). These miracles are intended to teach us about the authority of Christ over all things. They are intended to grow in us (and in all the eye-witnesses) a faith like that of the Centurion’s, who knew that Jesus didn’t even have to be present to work a miracle. (Good thing for us, since He took His bodily form back up to heaven a couple thousand years ago). Jesus is Lord over all creation!
Finally, the last touch down I want to make is with John the Baptist’s disciples in the early part of Matthew 11. John’s disciples came to Jesus because John was in the bowels of prison. He was weakened by suffering, and although he had once been so confident in the fact that Jesus was the Son of God he’d been longing to see, he was now doubting his convictions (as suffering and despair will often have us do). Jesus’ response was to point to the miracles, and also to the fact that He was preaching the Gospel to those most often overlooked: the poor. In other words, Jesus’ compassion for humanity and His ability to work miracles were not just intended to make our lives better (otherwise, why wouldn’t He have delivered John from prison?). They were intended to show us “the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
When the disciples leave Jesus to go comfort John, Jesus turns to His disciples and reminds them of who John is: a messenger sent ahead to prepare the way for Jesus to come fully unveil the Kingdom of God to those of us who are on earth. I know I may have overused the word “unveil” but I don’t care. I want to. You see, when Jesus died, He literally ripped the veil of the Temple from top-to-bottom. The veil that separated the Presence of God from the outside world.
This is exactly what Jesus came to do: TO UNVEIL! To take away the separation between God and His people. Sure, He has authority over our trials, and sometimes uses that authority to make our temporal lives better. But only to show us Himself. When He allows suffering to continue, we are often like John in prison, despairing, hopeless, fearful that we are forgotten and He is not who He says He is… but that is not true. Then, we look at the Word, and we see that Christ, who even has authority over creation, is kind enough to forgive sins! Sometimes He actually uses the suffering in our lives to show us Himself, as well.
To someone who doesn’t know Christ, this may sound narcissistic (but honestly, that’s only because WE are narcissistic!). We want to think this world revolves around us, but it just doesn’t. And what I’ve found to be true is that the more I acknowledge that I belong to Christ and not the other way around, the more I walk in humility and joy! The freer I become. The more cheerful and glad-hearted. Humility breeds contentment, and contentment breeds joy.
Jesus didn’t just work miracles to show us His authority, but also His compassion (I could write another blog post on that from the same exact passage!). This is why He not only cited the miracles, but also sharing the Gospel with the poor, to John’s disciples. He deeply cares for His creation. But HE is the Alpha and the Omega! One of the ways He tends to us is by letting us glimpse His very nature, and this mainly comes through the Word. That, my friends, is the point of Christianity, the Bible, God-Incarnate. Colossians 2:9 is one of my favorite verses. It says “For in Him the fullness of Diety dwells in bodily form”! This, my friends, is Jesus, the Majesty of the Uncreated One displayed for us to see and adore… He is the One who unveiled Heaven for us! To Him be all praise forevermore!!!
Space 9/16/24
