Jesus Copied

What Did Jesus Do?

…the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
John5.19


“Copy Cat!” Ugh. Didn’t you hate it when someone at school called you a copy cat? “Am not!” “Are too!” And back and forth it would go until, unable to think of anything else to say, you would “Oh yeah, well, am not!” And you would turn sharply on your heal and just walk away. Jesus was a “Copy Cat,” and not afraid to admit it. The Son, if you will, flattered the Father with the sincerest form of flattery, He copied him. Jesus was not interested in making a name for himself (He already had a name even more excellent than the angels. See Hebrews 1.4); but He sure wanted to make certain people knew the Father (John 5.19b-23).

For you or I to try and copy God would be absurd, for Jesus it what simply part and parcel of His nature, which he shared with the Father. But that’s what so outraged the Jews wanted to kill, for the blasphemy of claiming equality with God (John 5.18) Again, for you or I to claim such equality would be utter blasphemy, but Jesus was just stating fact. When sinful man tries to assume the place of God the results are always disastrous. It doesn’t matter if it is Pharaoh who is claiming to be a god, or the leader of a modern day cult who makes bondservants of their followers, lives are inevitably destroyed.

But with Jesus, it’s another story. For when the Son copies the Father He frees from bondage all who believe, and the end is always love and life (John 5.24). In fact, it would only have been a problem if the Son didn’t imitate the Father, but instead chose to go His own way.

Jesus asks noting more of His disciples; we don’t need, in fact we do well not to even try, to come up with our own agenda. All we need to do is follow Him, walk in His footsteps, and copy Him. Of course, this in itself sounds pretty blasphemous, and it would be if we tried it on our own. Fortunately Jesus asked His Father to send the Helper to enable us to follow faithfully (John 14.15-17).

So, don’t be afraid to admit to being a “Copy Cat” of the Son who imitated the Father in love and truth. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4