Jesus cares about what God says is right

Who is Jesus? It’s a vital question that we don’t ask often enough I think. We’ve put Him in a box, frozen Him in a portrait as a kind-faced Caucasian man with long brown hair and a blue sash across His white robe. And who knows? Maybe He did dress that way, but I can guarantee you He didn’t look Caucasian.

Jesus feels like this distant figure in the past who said a bunch of great and useful things, who loved the unlovable, and started a faith system that has changed the world, but Jesus is more than that. Jesus is the Son of God, and He is God Himself (don’t try to understand or explain that one). He is God who chose to put on skin and walk the dirt of the world He made, alongside the people who wrecked it all. He is God who chose to die for a lost people because He didn’t believe in lost causes.

But even then, He seems unreachable, unknowable, beyond someone I could just run into on the street. But that’s not true. Jesus is as real today as He was in the past, and He’s the same Person now as He was then. And getting to know Him better helps me see myself more clearly.

So how do you get to know someone? You pay attention to what they say, what they do, and how they live.

Today’s verses are Matthew 3:13-17.

Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him. After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

John the Baptist is high up on my list of people I want to meet when I get to heaven. The man was just wild, and I’ll bet he has some crazy stories that would be a hoot to hear from his own lips. God put him in a specific place with a specific purpose–to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. But John got to baptize Jesus. He didn’t want to, stating that it was Jesus who should be the one baptizing. I love what Jesus says: “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.”

Think about that.

Jesus didn’t need to be baptized, though I believe Jesus’ ministry officially began after His baptism. Baptism doesn’t save you. It’s just a picture, a symbol, that you’ve chosen to follow Jesus and He’s washed away your sin.

God wanted Jesus to be baptized so that others would see the importance of this symbol and follow in His footsteps. It’s a strange thing, choosing to be dunked in a pool of water and lifted out again, but I can point to that moment in my life when I made the decision to actively begin following Jesus. I had been saved for years, but my baptism marked the day I truly began to understand what Jesus had done for me.

You realize Jesus didn’t have to go along with this, right? John even gave Him a way out, pointing out that Jesus should have been the one dunking people. But Jesus humbly agreed to do what God has asked Him to do.

I know people like that. Do you? They’re the ones who do what needs to be done humbly and quietly and cheerfully, even if it’s not their responsibility or if they’ve already got too much on their plate. Know what? I like those people. They’re easy to be around. They’re easy to talk to. And generally they bring others a lot of joy.

Jesus cares about what God says is right. That’s who Jesus is. He’s God, but He’s also a man who chooses to obey even though He doesn’t have to. He’s willing to inconvenience Himself to set an example for the people around Him. Sounds like a guy you’d want on your team, right? 

I know this: If a guy like Jesus is willing to die for someone like me, I must be worth a whole lot to Him. I don’t understand that, but it’s the truth. Jesus is perfect, and I’m so not, but He still chose to die for me. And that tells me there’s nothing I can do to earn His love because I already have it, and He already thought I was worth it.

Miracles

What is a miracle? People always talk about wanting to see miracles, or that they’ve seen miracles in certain places. But what are they? How do you define a miracle? Is it something impossible that happens? Or is it just a truly unlikely situation that comes to pass?

I will admit, I probably use the term too loosely. Kind of like awesome. But when I get excited about things, I like to identify them for how they make me feel. And awesome always seems to fit. Just like miraculous seems to fit the things that happen that I don’t expect.

But what is a miracle exactly?

According to Dictionary.com, a miracle is “an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.”

Which is basically a fancy way to say that it’s something only God could do. By that definition, how frequently do you identify something as a miracle when it’s really just something you brought to pass?

But on the other side of that coin, we have to remember that there are many things that happen in our world that only God can accomplish. He hung the stars in place. He holds the universe together. He can change a person’s heart.

Iris at Glen Eyrie – Colorado Springs, CO

Today’s verse is John 14:12.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”

When Jesus walked the Earth, He did miracles. He helped the blind to see. He helped the deaf to hear. He helped the lame walk. But more than that, He extended a free offer of salvation to every person in the world — not just Jews but everyone. Jesus did miracles.

When He was addressing the disciples, Jesus said what is in today’s verse, and even now it still shocks me. I mean, think about it. Us. Doing the same miracles that Jesus did? That’s ridiculous. Because I don’t know about you, but I’ve never spit in the dirt and rubbed it on some poor blind guys’ face, only to have him be healed.

Jesus did that. I can’t.

So how can Jesus tell us that we will do greater things than He ever could have? Where is the truth in that statement? Jesus is God. How could we accomplish something greater than He?

Look at the verse again.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”

It’s not that we will do greater things than Jesus because we’re so impressive. The truth is that the only reason we can do anything great is because God does it through us. Anyone who believes in Christ will do the same works that He did — and greater.

It’s not about doing miracles. It’s about believing that God can do them, that the impossible becomes possible with God.

One of the most amazing miracles God can do is to change someone’s heart. There’s nothing like it. And you know what? It happens more often than you might think.

So if you are ever tempted to complain that you’ve never seen a miracle before, maybe you ought to ask God to show you one. Because I’d bet there are more happening under your nose than you think — and they’re being done by people who just want to better themselves and their families. And you’ll find that the people who experience the most miracles are the ones who get out of the way and let God do the work instead of trying to control Him.