What We See...or Don't See

You would think that, in his day, Jesus would have been a hard one to miss.  When I read the Gospels and think about Jesus performing all of those amazing miracles, and fulfilling all of those age-old prophecies, I wonder, How did so many people miss that he was the one?  Never mind that this question is just as significant for our day.  Jesus is just as present and relevant now as he ever was, and still many of us just miss him.

I was particularly thinking about when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt.  Jesus had a hand in most (or all?) of the prophecies that he fulfilled.  There are many scriptures in the Gospels that say that Jesus did such-and-such so that the prophecy could be fulfilled.  It is interesting to read this and know that the disciple writing that particular book knew this.  I doubt that, for example, when Jesus told the disciples to go into the city and get the donkey and her colt, that he also said, "So that the prophecy from Zecheriah can be fulfilled."  Jesus knew he was fulfilling the prophecy, and perhaps even some of the disciples realized it.  Certainly Matthew realized it when he wrote his book.  And so it stands to reason that the Pharisees and other educated Jews of the day would have recognized the prophetic nature of Jesus's entrance in to Jerusalem.

Why is it then that they refused to believe in him?  It seems likely that any Jew who was educated in the scriptures would have been keen to see signs of the Messiah.  It seems likely that any intimation of the fulfillment of messianic prophecy would have set the learned Hebrew men buzzing with anticipation.  But the Gospels don't show the educated class the least bit excited about Jesus.  Almost from the outset they can't stand him.  I suspect that they thought he might be the Messiah, but since he threatened their way of life - since he proved to be a threat to their conception of righteousness and authority - they resolved to be done with him.  And, incidentally, they were a part of fulfilling more messianic prophecies.

But this willingness to overlook who Jesus is and what he's come to say and do, this continues.  We do it a lot.  For years I dressed Jesus up in my own image.  I put words in his mouth and dusted him off and told him to follow me around for a while.  I freely interpreted the Gospels so that he conformed to my idea of who Jesus is.  In short, I missed him.  Jesus began his ministry and the disciples said, Yes, the Messiah has come to win us our dignity and be king!  But Jesus said, No, I've come to die.  And even though the power was in his death (and resurrection), you can't blame them for begrudging this seemingly hopeless end to things.

This happens to us, too.  Jesus comes and we say, Fix me!  Make my life easier!  And Jesus says, I came so that you could die to yourself.  Dying is never easy.  It wasn't easy for Jesus, but he did it for the joy that was set before him; not the joy in the act, because there is no joy in dying, but for the joy of what was to come: his glorification, the completion of the Father's plan, the great rescue of all humanity.  Dying isn't easy for us either, but we have Jesus to show us how it's done, and with only a fraction of the pain he endured.

But we won't see what Jesus came to do if we're only looking for what we want him to do.  To some extent this probably happened to Judas Iscariot.  He couldn't reconcile what he had hoped Jesus would be with what Jesus actually was.  His is an extreme case because he betrayed Jesus.  Most of us don't betray Jesus, we just ignore him.  Or we do what I did and we dress him up in our own expectations, but still we don't see what he's come to do.  When I finally let Jesus do what he wanted to do in my life, everything changed.  I stopped looking in mirrors and started looking at the world around me; but especially I started looking to the Father, and I began learning more about myself than I ever knew.  This is the wonderful thing about God, that he will not only show you who He is, but in the process He will show you who you are.

This is truly seeing; this is real vision.  It reminds me of the two blind men in Matthew 20, one chapter before Jesus's triumphal entry.  They stand on the roadside crying out to Jesus, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"  And the crowd rebukes them.  Jesus asks the obvious and almost callous question: "What do you want me to do for you?"

They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened!"  And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.