Lights, Camera, Action.

Sometimes I think that Jesus must have been a good laugh. He was human and God and honestly I reckon either would be good enough reason to conclude that he would have been absolutely hilarious. Think about it, think about the crazy, funny people we all know. Think about the weird animals in the world. Creative and fun. Joy and love and laughter.

In Luke 20:1-8 the chief priests approach Jesus and ask him under what authority he was operating? who gave him the power for miracles? why was he able to do all that he was doing? Jesus answers with a question: who was John the Baptist? What was his authority? The chief priests cannot decide what to say for fear of upsetting people.

‘We don’t know.’ They say. Jesus says, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’ The equivalent of ‘if you don’t know, I can’t help you.’  There again they were trying to trick him. I  don’t blame him for his response.

I think that Jesus would have been able to respond to them openly and warmly if they had been genuine in their desire to understand. They were weak and they wished only to take from him. They were living under Roman occupation, an oppressive regime. Any wrong footing would have placed them in a compromised position. It had been like this for a very long time and to a certain extent they must have adjusted to living side by side. But we also know there were other people groups in the area, it would not have been unusual to have had to interact with others. What was unusual, however, was that Jesus knew his authority and he also knew his mission.

It was a surprise to the chief priests, but it should not have been. When he came and began his ministry he called his disciples, people that were ‘nobodies’ and he ministered to people no one wanted to know. He walked into homes of detested people, he talked with people that were desperate and hopeless, he performed miracles for the masses. The chief priests might have thought it was only about a selection of the ‘right’ people, but he had compassion and knew that the only way to make a difference was to fearlessly go to places no one wanted to go.

Our God is a loving and true God. He is interested and compassionate. He knows us and our struggles. The Bible does not profess to keep us from facing hardships. John 3:16 is very well know, it says, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ That is a God that is involved, that cares, that has placed his people, his children and his angels in position to rescue. Jesus was not a performing monkey and neither are we.