Rethinking Jesus: Jesus didn't do everything he could do
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Jesus of Nazareth has proved to be one of history’s most influential figures. Plenty can be said about how he changed the course of human history, but very little seems to ever be said about how he began human history.
John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 both affirm Jesus, God the Son, was the most active person of the Trinity in the creation of the universe and, consequently, of Adam, Eve, you and me.
This is an aspect of Jesus’ personality that commentators and casual readers of the Gospels alike often forget. We love to focus on his humanity and his humility.
But if Jesus is God incarnate and enjoys God’s omnipotence, then are his miracles really amazing? Or are they just proof of who he is?
Jesus’ humility cannot impress you until his power does. His kindness cannot impress you until his righteousness does.
In fact, confronted with his omnipotence, I find myself wondering why he didn’t do more.
Jesus didn’t have to put up with being mistreated. He didn’t have to deal with people who didn’t believe in him. In Matthew 26:53, Jesus claims to be able to call down 12 legions of angels (that’s more than 60,000 angels) to rescue him. In Isaiah 37, there’s an account of a single angel killing 185,000 people at once. But he didn’t call the angels down.
Jesus only raised three people from the dead during his earthly ministry. I wonder how many more people than that died during his earthly ministry. Mark 6:5 says Jesus didn’t do many miracles in Nazareth. Either there weren’t as many sick people there or there were sick people there who Jesus didn’t heal. Why not?
Can I be so bold as to say if I were Jesus, I would have done a lot more on earth than he did? Can I be so honest as to say if I were Jesus, the one thing I wouldn’t have done would have been die on a cross.
Controversially, raising the dead, healing the sick and teaching about God were only consequential to Jesus’ agenda on earth. Jesus’ main purpose on earth was to pay for the world’s sin and to raise up a few men to understand that and pass it on.
Jesus could have come up with a plan himself. He could have overthrown the Roman empire and become king of the world (which he will do someday). He could have done miracles so convincing even the most ardent skeptic would believe. But that wasn’t God the Father’s plan.
Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner (John 5:19).” He trusted the Father’s plan for fixing the world. Instead of working himself to the bone doing everything he could think of, he only did what the Father showed him.
Americans today are busier than ever. Adults in my generation spend half the time our parents did in leisurely social interaction with our peers and our parents spent half as much time relaxing with friends as their parents did. Why? We’re so busy.
In all that business, are we trusting God for his plan for our lives, or are we trying to do all we can to make things work? Somehow, I really don’t think Jesus would buy into the busy we fill our times with.