Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses.
Luke 5:15 (emphasis added)

We slow down to look at vehicle wrecks on the road. We pause and turn our heads when arguments are breaking out. We watch scripted reality shows telling ourselves we’re getting voyeurism supreme. ‘That loudmouth politician coming to town? Let’s go see him and see what falls out of his mouth.’ We are a curious species. But curiosity isn’t enough. It will have us rubbernecking for a bit, but it won’t stick. We lose interest. Off to the next thing. The ‘show’ doesn’t stay.

Jesus performed a lot of miracles. It’s interesting to look at a list of them – especially in the order in which they occurred. We’re not even seeing all of them either. Just the highlight reel, as it were. Jesus lived for 33 years, which is about 12,000 days. Depending on how you count (by a day in which something happens or by total time it takes to do something), we have between 24 and 52 days recorded. Non-consecutive days. There is a LOT that doesn’t happen in the Word. What DOES happen are all the things that are important for US. “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). All that we have are those things that will equip us for good work.

Which means EVERYTHING in the Word equips is for something. When it comes to Jesus, one of the things we are equipped for is being drawn to Him. Just like when He was alive, His WORDS drew them in. The miracles got attention. They got people talking. They got the curious. The rubberneckers. But miracles won’t make you stay unless they’re happening to YOU. What made them stay are the words He spoke. They were looking for healing, sure. A lot of people did that over His entire ministry. Again and again they flocked to Him, bringing their sick. But His Words also attracted people and many of them stayed.

We have a picture of Jesus walking along with twelve dudes talking and glowing. The truth is that a VILLAGE travelled with Jesus. The Twelve, seventy other disciples, women, possibly children, wives of the disciples, and some hangers on. That’s a fair group of people, you know? They weren’t hanging around just because Jesus was a nice guy or knew how to grill delicious fish. No, they were there to spend time with Him and to listen to what He said. Jesus laughed. Jesus sang. Jesus told jokes. But Jesus also spoke. In quiet ways. In commanding ways. In teaching tones. Earnestly. Kindly. Firmly. Jesus used small moments to teach. Jesus used big events and the reports of things happening in the world. He spoke from the common heritage of people in Israel. Though He never set foot out of the country – except fleeing to Egypt as a young child – Jesus also spoke with a worldly wisdom that took His hearers by surprise. He spoke with wisdom and clarity whenever He did speak. That was why people stayed around. They were drawn to Him with WORDS.

Reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49) in a dim room while imagining Jesus sitting across from you is a good way to block out our modern world and think about what it was like to really hear Him speak. To hear what it would have been like to LISTEN. To must have been something. If you look at the verses before today’s verse you see that He just healed a man with LEPROSY. That covered a lot of skin diseases and conditions, but all of them were visible, unpleasant, and a cause for staying away. Jesus healed the man and sent him to Temple. What was next? “But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses” (Luke 5:15). They gathered to HEAR Him, not to see another leper healed.

There were frequent crowds. Frequent gatherings of people from in the towns. Everywhere He went and double when He got back. It must have been intense and draining to have to talk to all those people because of the next verse. “Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Jesus had to take Himself off to recharge because He was giving it all away to everyone who came His way. Wording at people can be draining. Even when the Holy Spirit is telling you everything that you should be saying. Jesus had the same troubles we do. The same desire to speak whatever was on His mind. But He held back because He was willing to submit to only speaking the Father’s words.

Take love. Jesus was loving. Yahweh IS love. When Jesus came across someone who was actively sinning, did He want to tell that to them? Did He want to demand their righteous behaviour? Maybe. He never did though. He always spoke in love. He also never condoned their behaviour. Take the woman committing adultery. She was guilty. She (and her partner who the Pharisees never produced) should have been stoned according to the Law (Leviticus 20:10-12 & Deuteronomy 22:22-24). Jesus forgave her. But Jesus also gave her instruction: “She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”” (John 8:11). He did not deny she was sinning. He simply showed her Grace. That was why He came. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17). Jesus wasn’t here to judge.

When Jesus comes back, He’ll be coming back as a judge. We will listen to His words again, but from a slightly different stand point. He’ll be here to finalise everything because everyone will have heard the Truth preached to them regarding Jesus, Yahweh, sin, and salvation. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). We might try and get out of being made to feel guilty by the scriptures, but the fact is that they WILL stand. The guilty will STILL be guilty. Only those who repent will have no reason to sweat. In love, Jesus will judge. His words will condemn those who have not accepted His salvation offer. Those who CHOOSE to keep on sinning.

That is why the Father speaks through Jesus. That is why Jesus submitted His voice and vocabulary to the Father. So that the RIGHT words were ALWAYS said. So that He could reach the hearts of the people. To show them what Adonai was really like. A loving Father trying to SAVE people. To show people the responsibility to admit their sin and TURN from it – even if they thought it was good. To show people the perspective of Heaven so that they could align with it and gain freedom from bondage. Jesus used His words as much as He could. He FOUGHT for us, SUFFERED for us, and DIED for us. Miracles – as tremendous a blessing as they are – did not do that. The Word of His testimony did that. His actions did that. The WORD made flesh did that.

Never be afraid to listen to the Word. Never be afraid to speak the Word. The scriptures were not given to us so that we would hide them. They were given so that we would share them. So that we would look them straight in the face and humbly submit to their truth, reliability, and purpose. So that we could stop our flight from the Father and instead, enter into Covenant with Him. Words. Powerful words. Just for you. Just for me. Just for each and every one of us. The Word is a POWERFUL thing.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 22:9-10

“Many bulls surround me; powerful bulls of Bashan hem me in. They open their mouths to devour me like a roaring lion that rips its prey.” (Matthew 27:43). The enemy will ALWAYS seek death. That is the goal for everything. He’ll settle for sickness, lack, weak faith, and confused beliefs, but death is his goal (John 10:10). Whenever he can get people to line up with him, he is happy. He’ll use gullible and greedy people to advance his agenda and worked double-time with Jesus and those lined up against Jesus. “When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!”” (John 19:6). The devil hates Messiah and everything that Messiah stands for. When Jesus revealed Himself, the devil did not rest until he had almost every religious fanatic baying for Jesus’ blood. Messiah was destined to be hunted, hounded, and killed. Jesus was hunted, hounded, and was killed. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b