Jesus Observed-Part III

What Did Jesus Do?

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people…
John 2.24

We have already noted that Jesus was a most keen observer of the world around Him (See WDJD 4/25 & 26/10). But much more than flora and the fauna, Jesus had made His fellow man the subject of His most intense study. Being fully human, as well as fully divine, most certainly helped the Lord to have perfect and complete understanding of the human heart and mind. Jesus didn’t know what it was to be a bird of the air or a lily of the field, but He assuredly knew what it was to be human.

In truth, I am not certain that it was divine knowledge that gave Jesus the ability to know people’s hearts better than they did themselves, or that it was godly omniscience the allowed Him to see into the minds of men. I believe Jesus may know us so well simply because He cared so much that He observed and studied men and women and children more closely than any anthropologist, physician, psychologist, or sociologist. Jesus, if you will, could read people like a book because He had studied us more intently than anything else.

We all consistently experience frustrations and interpersonal hostilities, individually and communally, right up to the level of international relations, because we are more interested and concerned for ourselves than for our neighbor. Jesus, on the other hand, was the most selfless person who ever lived. He sought neither fame nor fortune; He had no worries, or issues of self-esteem; He was totally confident of, and secure in, His Father’s love. All this freed Jesus to look intently and perceptively at the people around Him.

We hanker for fame and fortune, worry continually, doubt ourselves, and fail to fully know the Father’s love, and hence walk around much of the time as bundles of varying degrees of insecurity. All this gets in the way of our paying full attention to the people around us; we are always distracted by our own self.

Perhaps the most amazing thing of all, considering how thoroughly Jesus observed and understood humanity, was that He still cared so much for us that He was willing to endure the cross and the grave for our sake! I mean, how many of us write off people who anger, betray, deny, disappoint, hurt, or reject us? How few of us, as in none, love others enough to get to know them so deeply that compassion, concern compelled to selflessly act for the good of another, rules our heart and mind, and directs our every action. That’s what Jesus did!

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4