The life of Jesus on earth is quite fascinating. You can tell even for those that wrote about him it was always intriguing, full of new things and very much eventful. With Jesus, there was never a dull moment. Something attracted all kinds of people to Jesus, good, bad and everything in between. I look at the Pharisees and I wondered how they were always around Jesus although they did not like him very much. Such was his attraction. While many came to Jesus for several reasons, Jesus was never attached to numbers, or who followed him, rather, he was and still is concerned with the heart of the individual. Reading the life of Jesus in the book of John lately, I have been intrigued myself at Jesus’s ministry and his approach to his mission on this earth which I will share below.
First, before Jesus began his ministry, he needed a witness, a validation of who he was and this came in the person of John, the Baptist. John’s testimony about Jesus is what launched the ministry of Christ on this earth. It is not mentioned enough but I realized that what John did was crucial in getting people ready to believe in someone because they had heard about him and his power before they met him. Indeed, we are told that because of John’s testimony of Jesus, many people believed in the works of Jesus (John 10:41-42). In most instances of life, to be taken seriously, one always needs to have a referral, someone who can attest to what you are doing or who you are. I love the fact that even though Jesus was God, he followed the rules of the earth and ensured he had a valid testimony, a valid referral before starting his work. This does not mean that without John’s testimony Jesus would not be able to have a fulfilling ministry, but it does show that on this earth, you need someone to validate what you do, who you are so that you can be trusted.
Second, Jesus was always very concerned about the will of his Father. It is evident that all he did while on earth had to be validated by his Father. As he says in John 10, he and the Father are of one accord, there is nothing he does that the Father does not approve of and that is beautiful. When we talk about unity in relationship, this is the best example we have. The Father and the Son walk hand in hand in everything they do. To know that the Word that was with God, became flesh at the will of the Father is remarkable; becoming flesh stripped him of much of his power because being human was limiting, yet Jesus obeyed the Father, he understood the mission and vision of the Father and submitted to it. Moreover, there was nothing in this world that deterred Jesus from the will of the Father for his life. Whenever he would be engaging in conversations, he always had the upper hand and ensured God’s purposes were brought forth. During his conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus’s main purpose was to ensure salvation was brought to Samaria and that starting with the Samaritan woman herself. So in their conversation, Jesus did not go into topics that would waste his time or topics that were not essential to the soul of the Samaritan woman, he went straight for her heart. Even though at some point the Samaritan woman wanted to divert (John 4:19-20), Jesus brought her back to the point of their conversation: her salvation. The fact that she was a Samaritan woman was not even a problem to him, in fact John says “Jesus had to go through Samaria” as if he was compelled to do it. Yet we know what compelled him was the salvation of an entire people group. Similarly, when Jesus encountered Nicodemus, he told him that to receive salvation “you must be born again”. The way Jesus introduced the topic of salvation is quite random; prior to that, Nicodemus had made a flattering statement about Jesus but Jesus did not even make a mention of that and went straight into discussing Nicodemus most important need: his salvation (John 3:2-3). It is clear that Jesus is only interested in discussing the matter of the heart because he wants you to receive the salvation of God which is himself. The beauty in all this is that Jesus is not in a hurry while he speaks to you about salvation. He is ready to take whatever time it takes to explain things to you so that you receive the gift he is offering. In the case of the Samaritan woman, although he was thirsty and hungry, he still spent time with her until she received her salvation. That is simply wonderful!
The love of the Father for us is really indescribable, unfathomable, too deep and too wide like Ephesians 3 verse 18 tells us. We are blessed to be loved by such a Father, to be cared for by such a Father, to have His love manifested in the person of his Son is incredible and not only that, we get to have the Holy Spirit with us which is the very presence of God dwelling in us. It does not get any better than that. I pray we never get tired of beholding the beauty of God and the largeness of his heart. May we learn to live the oneness the Father, the Son and Spirit have.
A Word Aptly Spoken 