Jesus
It comes from the phrase “God Saves”. This name clearly fits, considering the ministry of Jesus. No doubt this name was chosen by God himself. It is the truth…….but, it must have infuriated the leaders of the Jewish synagogue. Jesus’s very name was blasphemous in their view.
Why?
The name “God saves” implies that the man bearing that name is God’s emissary for salvation. If you are Caiaphas, the high priest, that means that God has bypassed you and put an unemployed carpenter at the head of the church…… your church. It means that Jesus is closer to God than you are…….that you have been demoted. And Caiaphas reacted exactly the way you would expect him to.
His reaction was wrong……. because it was based on an assumption………Caiaphas assumed that Jesus was just an unemployed carpenter with a very ambitious name……nothing more. Caiaphas assumed that God was not actively at work in his world.
And that is the lesson for this week.
If you really want to make a fool out of yourself………begin your analysis of a situation……..on a bad assumption.
Assume that the world is flat.
Assume that human illness is caused by “bad humors in your blood”.
Assume that a chemist can transmogrify lead into gold.
Assume that current “scientific” knowledge is complete…….that the really smart guys out there have it all figured out.
Cosmologists tell us that the universe is much bigger than what we can see.
Philosophers tell us that reality is much more extensive than what we can know.
Theologists tell us that the truth covers lot more than what we can understand.
We all want to base our lives on the truth. Successful living requires this. But, the truth is a whole lot more extensive than our current understanding…….a fact that even the scientists will concede.
So…….we need to keep an open mind. You have, no doubt, analysed the world we live in……sought answers to the big questions:
How did we get here?
What are we here for……if anything?
Where are we going……..when we die……if anywhere?
My challenge for you is to have a good hard look at the assumptions that you began with. Be sure that they have not led you to discard any important truths. Be sure that you have not classified something as impossible……..just because it is impossible for you……..that it cannot be…….based on your assumptions.
Every day I meet very smart people. People who consider themselves to be open minded……….but who reject the possibility of any truth beyond what can be seen and measured.
Are you making the same assumption as Caiaphas……….that Jesus was just an unemployed carpenter……..that God is not actively involved in this world…….in your life?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
Solomon, NIV
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Paul, NIV
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Paul, NIV
We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
Paul, NIV
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Paul, NIV