“Tell Us Plainly”

One of the biggest struggles we read about in the New Testament is actually a struggle of perception.  Not only was the message of the gospel a different view of the world from that of those who did not know God, it was different from the Jewish people who had known about God for centuries.  The Jewish leadership at the time were certainly looking for the Messiah, but they failed to recognize Him when He arrived because He did not meet their expectations.  However, we can also see that Jesus’ own disciples struggled to overcome a very fleshly view of the kingdom.

This challenge is not one that is behind us completely, either.  Not only do some of our religious friends still seek to establish an earthly kingdom for Jesus, but we can also unintentionally adopt a very physical view of His work.  We can see some of the natural outcomes of a fleshly view of Jesus’ kingdom and take warning.  What happens when we think of Jesus’ rule in very physical ways?

We judge people according to sight.  When Jesus was condemned by the Jewish leadership for eating with “tax collectors and sinners,” He responded with an opportunity to change perspective.  “[It is] not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.”  He went on to explain that it was the sick He came to call so that they might be well. (Matthew 9:9-13) On other occasions when facing similar criticism, Jesus explained that He was seeking lost, but valuable sheep. (Luke 15:1-7) We can still fall prey to this wrong judgment and choose some people to be exalted, and some to be abased in our assemblies, thereby showing favoritism, and committing sin. (James 2:1-13)

We fight the wrong battles.  When Peter had a very physical view of Jesus’ work, he could not fathom the level of self-sacrifice to which Jesus was committed (Matthew 16:21-23), and fought back physically when it was time for Jesus to fulfil His mission (John 18:10-11).  Jesus understood exactly what was going to happen and that “it must happen this way.” (Matthew 26:51-54)  We can still look to do battle using fleshly weapons, but we are to remember that, “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” (II Corinthians 10:1-6)

We don’t listen to Jesus.  The Jews, who we looking for a physically powerful Messiah did not recognize Jesus in that role, and did not listen to His teaching.  They asked Him to “tell us plainly” whether He was the Messiah when he had already done so many times. (John 10:22-30) When we are looking for a different Savior than the one Jesus came to be, then we don’t listen to what Jesus tells us that He does.  We don’t believe Him when He said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:33-38) and we use fleshly metrics to judge and build the church as opposed to being connected to Him as the head.  He tells us plainly, but will we listen?                   ~Jeremy Hodges