Are We Willing to Obey?
There are many books in the world, and when the book is ‘good,’ then it sets the stage for that which is to come. The opening pages give the reader the necessary foundation: Character, Setting, Plot, and (oftentimes) a Hint to the Theme. In reading about the particular books of the Bible known as the four Gospels, scholars record how the tax collector who became a believer, Matthew, wrote to identify Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and King of Israel. The physician Luke who also believed, wrote to reveal the lowly Son of Man. Then there’s John, the son of Zebedee and the one who became the beloved disciple. His desire within the words he was given to write emphasize the deity of the eternal Son of God.
Consider this opening line from The Gospel According to Mark:
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
(The Gospel According to Mark 1: 1 NASB)
From the very beginning, the words given to Mark, who wrote primarily to the Roman citizens, were pointing to God’s eternal plan. The emphasis was focused on Christ, the servant of God.
Consider the question: Can we recall the moment we first met Jesus?
Some may have reacted like Nathanael and disbelieved, as recorded in The Gospel According to John 1: 47-50. Others may have encountered God as Hagar did, when she was running in fear to escape the wrath of Sarai’s anger. Pregnant with Abram’s son, and even though she had done exactly what Sarai, her master, had indicated, still she was running scared back home to Egypt when she heard the voice of God. Some say: “Seeing is believing,” and when the eleven disciples of Jesus hid in the upper room after the resurrection, they were not sure if they believed Mary Magdalene’s report that she had seen JESUS ALIVE in the tomb. I am sure, like the eleven, I would have needed to SEE JESUS with my own eyes to believe Mary’s farfetched report. Surely they thought she had lost her mind, even though Jesus had spoken exactly what would occur before, during, and after His crucifixion.
So, consider: How did we react in the moment we first met Jesus?
Did we believe the first time we saw evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, or did we doubt, as so many do?
It had been forty days after the resurrection, and over 500 hundred had seen Jesus with their eyes, along with the eleven chosen disciples. They were waiting, but like so many, doubt was setting in and they began to question their own belief. It’s on the ordinary days, when God shows up. We are sitting at a meal, working, or engaging in an activity of recreation, and without warning, WE SEE JESUS.
Moses was out in his father-in-law’s field, shepherding sheep.
David was also shepherding sheep in the field that belonged to Jesse, his dad.
Gideon was afraid of being attacked by the Midianites and hide in the wine press, an unlikely place to thresh wheat, but that’s exactly where the Lord came to him.
Elisha was plowing when the Lord told him that he was going to serve as God’s prophet, when Elijah was gone. &
Mary was engaged, awaiting marriage to Joseph, when the angel of the Lord approached her with God’s plan for her life.
El Roi is a name of God that means “God sees.” Consider how God saw each of these, and consider your own walk to faith. The Gospel According to Mark records the humanity of Jesus, pointing the readers to the truth found in God’s eternal plan. This begins with the opening line and continues throughout, all the way to chapter sixteen, where we read about the commissioning of the disciples. It would be ten more days before the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in the opening line of The Acts of the Apostles 2:1. On that day, we see how 120 faithful obedient disciples are gathered in the right place at the right time to receive the Father’s promised Holy Spirit.
For now, we end this writing with these considerations and with a closing statement.
Can we recall the moment we first met Jesus?
How did we react in the moment we first met Jesus?
Did we believe the first time we saw evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, or did we doubt, as so many do?
Were we at work or in hiding, or even just living life, unaware that in the next moment our lives would change—FOREVER?
Consider how “God sees” each of us (El Roi) exactly as we are and right where we are, just living out our day. Every person receives the opportunity to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord; no one is excluded, for God designed it this way. When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection from the dead, He met them right there, right then—in their questioning and disbelief. After sternly reminding them of His Truth and of God’s Eternal Plan, Jesus commissioned them.
“And He said to them,
(The Gospel According to Mark 16: 15-16 & 19 NASB)
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved;
but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. . . .”
[Jesus went on to speak of the signs that will prove one’s belief]
“So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them,
He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”
May we be reminded (too).
Help us Lord to go, to give ourselves away to others today, to speak the name of JESUS to those who will listen and believe, for today just might be the day they SEE JESUS.