Jesus Observed-Part I

What Did Jesus Do?

“Considered the lilies of the field…”
Matthew 6.28

When you are responsible for all of Creation you are going to take care to watch and observe everything around you; Jesus certainly did. We can be sure that He did not ask those who were listening to the Sermon on the Mount to consider the lilies without himself having carefully considered them first. It is safe to say that Jesus noted well all of His surroundings.

Jesus observed the humble splendor of the grass of the field (Matthew 6.30); He also knew what fate weeds faced (Matthew 13.24-30). The Lord had carefully watched what happens when grain was planted (Mark 4.26-29), and He likened the growth of His Father’s kingdom to the wheat harvest (Matthew 9.37-38).

The tendency of thorns to grow up and choke everything around them had been seen and remembered by Jesus (Matthew 13.7); and Jesus knew that thorns and brambles could never produce grapes, nor thistles figs (Matthew 7.16; Luke 6.44).

As for fruit trees, Jesus had seen that it was only the strong healthy ones that yielded good fruit; good fruit was never picked from a diseased tree (Matthew 67.17-18); and there was but one end for a diseased fruit tree (Matthew 7.19). Fig trees, all trees for that matter, were reliable indicators of the seasons, and Jesus had observed this (Luke 21.29-30).

Even the tiniest of seeds, the seed of the mustard plant, had been noted by Jesus, for he had watched how that tiny seed had grown and become the largest shrub in the garden, a tree in which all the birds came and nested (Matthew 13.31-32)

From tiny seeds to majestic trees; from life-sustaining grain and fruit to troublesome thorns and weeds, Jesus observed the branches, blossoms, and flowers of every green thing around Him. All had their purpose in the natural world the Father had created, and many proved quite useful as illustrations of the Father’s kingdom. I cannot estimate the hours the Lord must have spent studying gardens and fields, meadows and forests, but they had to be considerable, for He was surely the most knowledgeable agriculturalist/arborist/horticulturalist ever.

Not too many of us today take time to ponder the beauty, the utility, and the lessons of the countless green and growing things, great and small, that are all around us. But that’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4