#SpreadTheGospel

‘Tis the season to be jolly… Fa la la la la la la la la

Tomorrow is Christmas and this post is about our reason for the season, the birthday Boy Himself…. Jeeeeesuuuuus Chriiiiiiist!

Mary’s boy child, Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day! (Did you sing along with the tune in your head or did you read it as a statement?) 😛

Ha!

Many tales of Christmas are about Jesus as a baby but this post is about Jesus as a MAN! The “Mary did you know?” song comes to mind as I write this because as much as the song asks the obvious – of course Mary knew (read Luke 1:27-33) – what I wonder is whether she knew of her son’s savage clap backs.

Jesus at Adolescence

This story is found in Luke 2:41-50

Jesus remained behind in the Temple and left His parents frantically searching for Him for THREE days! When His mama found Him and asked why He let them panic, guess what He said…

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Luke 1:49 NIV

Bruh.
Is that how you speak to your parents?

I don’t know about Mary but my Mum would have dealt with Jesus’ response in one way and one way only….

Or perhaps Jesus being the Son of God made Mary restrain herself, because verse 51 of Luke chapter 2 states that she “treasured all these things in her heart”. My mama would have “treasured these things” in a whooping! Lol! Maybe that is why my mama was not the mother of God. She could have been a martial arts trainer in a different life.

You will see that Jesus was an obedient child when you read the first part of verse 51; but His clap backs sure had a life of their own.

If I was in Jesus’ shoes and my mama confronted me after letting her and papa look for me for three days, I would have to reflect about my whoooole life first before giving such a response to her. I would be trembling.

Flipping Tables and Religious Leaders Alike

Let’s turn our Bibles to Mark chapter 11 and we begin from verse 27.

Jesus had been performing miracles, healing the sick, teaching about the Kingdom of God and doing other Jesus-esque things like forgiving sins. Precisely two days before the scene in verse 27, Jesus had driven out the merchants from the Temple (read Mark 11:15-17) and that left the religious leaders livid! (verse18)

At the start of verse 27, Jesus walked in the Temple courts again (maybe to see if some merchants had returned and needed a lil’ table flipping and whip lashing a second time 😛 ) when He was confronted by the religious leaders who were baying for His blood.

The religious ninjas thought they had a fixer for Jesus but the Son of God had lethal, mouth-silencing clap backs up His sleeve. We see in verse 33 how Jesus caught the religious elders by their own trap and shut the show down.

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Mark 11:33 NIV

Nice, clean and onto the next scene.

Who is the Messiah?

Isaiah 9: 6-7 paints us a picture of a Messiah who would be a political ruler, a king with a strong and mighty army. With descriptions like, “and the government will be on his shoulders”, “of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” and “He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom” … it is no doubt that the Jews found it hard to reconcile the Jesus they were seeing in person with the one they read about from the prophets.

Why was that the case?

Well, look at this….

Jesus was was the son of a carpenter, born in a manger, raised in the lowly Nazareth, had no political or military mileage whatsoever, was constantly at loggerheads with the religious leaders and was the most controversial person of His time – calling Himself the Son of God whilst dining with prostitutes and tax collectors. A paradox. With such a reputation preceding Jesus, even you and I would have had difficulties believing whether this ordinary man from downtown was truly the Son of God!

“Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

John 6:42 NLT

Concerning people’s opinions about Him, we have already established that Jesus did not give a hoot like a mute owl, and one of the people who found out this truth the hard way was His cousin, John the Baptist.

(i) John the Baptist Questions the Messiah

Let’s now turn to Matthew chapter 11.

John the Baptist had been imprisoned but his darling cousin, Jesus, was yet to visit him. Puzzled by this, John sent his disciples to question whether Jesus was indeed the Promised One.

Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Matthew 11:3 NIV

John was salty.

Wasn’t John the same man who hailed Jesus in Matthew chapter 3 and claimed he wasn’t even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals? Yet now he is asking whether Jesus is the Promised One? Mmmh.

…But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Matthew 3:11 NIV

Unfazed by John’s about-turn, Jesus simply told John’s disciples to respond thus:

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

Matthew 11: 5-6 NIV

In summary, Jesus’ reply was simple – my actions speak for me. Additionally, Jesus responded to John’s shade to make it clear He noticed it.

And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.

Matthew 11:6 NKJV

Better think twice before you try throw shade at Jesus.

(ii) The Pharisees put to Task

In this episode of “Who is the Messiah?”, Jesus decided to do a little testing of His own.

Let’s turn to Matthew 22 and we will start from verse 41.

Jesus sets the scene by asking the Pharisees about the Messiah:

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”

Matthew 22:42 NKJV

It seemed like a pretty easy question so the Pharisees quickly replied, “The Son of David.” Alright. Well and good, but wait, Jesus had more…

He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’? If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

Matthew 22: 43 – 45 NKJV

The Pharisees…

Jesus…

How does anyone come back from THAT? Let’s see what the Bible says…

And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Matthew 22: 46

And that, folks, is how to shut the show down, Jesus-style!

Merry Christmas everyone!

XO,

That Lady