Jesus has authority to redefine what we thought we knew

Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Bern Leckie answers:

What did I like about today’s passage?

I remember an awkward conversation years ago with my entrepreneurial uncle who wanted to tell me how he would have run Jesus’ mission better than Jesus did. My uncle had been brought up to believe in God, but never struck me as someone who wanted to accept Jesus’ authority.

What reminds me of this now is hearing Jesus’ words reflecting on how people didn’t respond however they heard and saw God at work directly, either through John the Baptist’s ritual purity or Jesus’ sharing of life, food, drink, miracles and joy. So why did so many people fail to respond to what God wanted to show them?

I think there is a clue in the way the Pharisees reacted to Jesus on the Sabbath. They were right in that there is a law prohibiting work on this sacred day of rest. But they were missing the point of the law as it pointed towards a need for Jesus. They clung to their own authority to teach the law instead of accepting Jesus’ authority to show them its purpose and God’s priorities: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” The Pharisees’ priorities must have been pretty twisted up for them to see incredible healing and go away plotting the healer’s death.

But I love how Matthew makes the link directly between Jesus and prophecy we are reading from Isaiah. Jesus wasn’t just redefining what was possible on the Sabbath. He was showing people the realities of promises from God made centuries beforehand.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God may sometimes appear different in the Old and New Testaments, but his purpose is seamless across history. By looking at Jesus we can see how it all joins up.

Jesus even has the authority to call unforeseen meaning out of stories like Jonah’s. Who expected Jonah’s time in the belly of a fish to have anything to do with Israel’s promised saviour? Jesus brings wisdom “greater than Solomon”, and yet knows that people aren’t all ready to receive it. Some may never accept his authority, but he loves and died for them.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I admit I’ve been disappointed by how some family conversations about faith have gone! But I am going to trust that the power to change people’s minds about following Jesus does not belong to me. The Spirit does this. So I’m going to renew my prayer for family who don’t yet trust and follow Jesus and be more open to sharing faith with them at appropriate times.

Who am I going to share this with?

The people in my family who do trust and follow Jesus – he can empower us together!