Tag: jesus is god

Isn’t He Just a Carpenter?

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“What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter? And he could do no mighty works there.” (Mark 6:2,5; ESV)

Jesus walked the dusty path to His own hometown, Nazareth. Demons had been running from people’s lives at His word. He was setting the oppressed free and delivering hope where none had been. Diseases and afflictions were disappearing all over the place as Jesus healed so many. He had been bringing dead people back to life and preaching a message that was unlike any that had ever been heard. He was – in a completely wonderful way – out of control! Jesus was shaking up the sad and hopeless paradigm. He was bringing life and healing . . . and truth.

On the heels of all this amazing, other-worldly stuff; Jesus enters Nazareth. The people who had known Him since childhood now asked some pointed questions about Christ: 1) What is the wisdom given to Him? 2) How are such mighty works done by His hands, and 3) Is not this the carpenter? (Mark 6:2-3, ESV). They ask the questions from a perspective of familiarity and unbelief. Startled by the “neighborhood boy’s” ability to shake up the world, they demonstrate their heart’s dilemma by asking these questions. How could it be that a carpenter’s son from the simple town of Nazareth could heal the sick and boss around demons? How could this man who grew up like others as an earth-bound human actually perform miracles – do the supernatural? Isn’t He just natural, like the rest of us? “How are such mighty works done by His hands?” What a question! These neighborhood folks were throwing away their chance at real life by refusing to acknowledge the greatest miracle behind all the miracles – God in the flesh!

A person must see Jesus as Creator – as God – in order to see Jesus as He truly is. Jesus is God. And to talk about mighty works on earth . . . well, that is an understatement, indeed! The earth only exists because Jesus made it. His contemporaries could not grasp the origin of His healing and life-giving power because they refused to believe His work as God. Though walking around in human flesh 2000 years ago, Jesus is God’s Son, “Through whom also [God] created the world . . . and [Jesus] upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:2-3, ESV).

Dare we talk about His carpentry work? Let’s do so! Jesus not only grew up learning to measure, cut, and build with the wood of trees; He brought all trees into existence and causes them to grow! He waters the earth and brings forth life. He laid the foundations of the universe itself – measuring both galaxies and molecules. He skillfully designed and put together the world itself. And yet, the people of His hometown could ask, “Is not this the carpenter?” They only saw Him as a common worker in wood from a family in Israel. They did not see Him as the Builder of Life.

The incomprehensible miracle of Jesus is the intersection of the divine and the regular – the supernatural and the natural. He is God, but He chose to experience humanness in order to save us. The very fact the Nazarenes took offense at is the very thing that saves us. Jesus is fully human and fully God. His real work is traced even to the creation of the universe and continues through the annals of time. He is the Master Carpenter, the Architect of people and of their salvation. Ever in the business of building and doing mighty works, Jesus told His followers before He departed the earth, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2, KJV). Abraham of the Old Testament days was living and looking forward to his best home yet to come. As this life could not fully satisfy Abraham, Hebrews 11:10 (ESV) says, “He was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God.” Yes, Jesus is building a city for us, a perfect home.

The problem with which we must grapple is the one we find in Mark 6:5. Because the people of Nazareth refused to believe the true nature of Jesus (as they revealed in their questioning), the Bible says, “And [Jesus] could do not mighty works there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them” (Mark 6:5, ESV). The people could receive no mighty work of God because they refused to believe the true reason Jesus was able to do great works. They saw Him only as a regular carpenter – not the Builder of Life.

Do you need a mighty work of God in your life? How do you view Jesus? Do not be blinded by familiarity as the Nazarenes were, having heard His name so many times. Believe in Him completely. Trust in Him as the Carpenter you need to construct your life. He is waiting to forgive you, build you, and do mighty works. And one day, we shall walk in that city whose Designer and Builder is God.

Most Bosses Don’t Listen, But . . .

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If you had a general suspicion that bosses tend not to listen, your suspicion was confirmed by a recent study reported by Good Morning America on September 19. It seems the more power someone gains in an organization, the less likely they are to listen to the people under them. While this is, of course, a generalization (for we can cite great exceptions, e.g., my boss), we sense the frustration of the study’s main point.

In our ordinary experience, we often find that people with the most power, resources, and ability to effect change are those who are least likely to care about “average” people. Those among us who are hurting many times feel abandoned. The inflated confidence of bosses, the blatant disregard of less influential people by those with fame and fortune, and the sheer inability of the powerful to connect with the ordinary person all present obstacles to genuine help for regular people. The problem is that the recent study of bosses who don’t listen is limited to the realm of the natural. What about God? Can He – does He – intervene?

Read the beautiful, comforting words of Psalm 113:4-8 (ESV):

    The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!
    “Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high,
    who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
    He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap
    to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.”

The irony of this passage is that the most powerful being who exists is the One who reaches down the lowest to lift up the helpless and heartbroken. Influential humans tend to ignore the needy. The most exalted Lord of the universe fixes His eye upon the disadvantaged. I especially enjoy verses 5 and 6; God is seated on high, but He is looking far down to see who wants rescued. His majesty does not deter Him from helping; He is the God who “raises the poor from the dust” and “lifts the needy to sit with princes.”

Flying in the face of corrupt human nature to grow bigger and care less, God’s promise is to lift us up with His own hand – though he is in charge of everything and owns everything. I fear that many people cannot conceptualize of a God like that because we are so accustomed to human failure. Remember, God stands outside the universe; He is transcendent. He is not simply the biggest or most powerful among us; He is completely other than we are. He is not the most compassionate human you have ever known; He defines compassion. We cannot allow our experiences with humans to taint our understanding of God. We must take Him at His Word.

Psalm 138:6 (ESV) succinctly proclaims, “For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly.” Will you believe that today? God alone stands as the power over all things, and He is also the One who cares about those who are brought low by life, sin, and circumstance. Unlike the human tendency to care less as we become more elevated, God cares the most even though He is the holy, exalted Creator. Please call out to Him now, and picture His mighty hand reaching down to hold you and lift you up. Do not allow human failure to cloud your view of God. Take Him at His Word.

Earlier in this article I spoke of the possible “sheer inability of the powerful to connect with the ordinary person.” Jesus Christ shattered that obstacle! Jesus is God, and in Him God put on the flesh of an ordinary human in order to connect with us for salvation and eternal life. God is the highest and actually became the lowest two thousand years ago in order to bring the lowly to the highest place! Through Jesus, we are lifted to God. Our voice is heard. Our heart is observed. Our need is met. Our future is secured. The Highest reaches to the lowest, defying the recent study bosses!

Blown Out of the Water

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One day long ago, Jesus told His disciples to travel with Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They did. They left the crowd and got into a boat with Jesus Christ.

Since the disciples were directly following the will of Jesus, one might anticipate “smooth sailing” on the sea. Instead, a fierce storm arose, and their boat began to fill with the water of the vicious waves. Christ slept while all this ruckus took place. Imagine, omniscient Jesus had told His followers to go out to sea, and then He snoozed as they began to fear for their lives in a terrible storm!

Our God was up to something; He had a purpose for the squall. Our God is up to something in our lives, too, when He sends us into tumultuous waters. As Jesus demonstrated while napping in the stern of a boat, God is never unnerved by trouble surrounding us. He is in control, ready to use what appears as chaos to accomplish a vital work of the soul.

What happened next for the disciples was a dramatic, necessary shift in their understanding of Jesus Christ. As those men began to fear their demise in the storm, they awoke Jesus and said, “Teacher do You not care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38b, NASB). Notice how they addressed Christ; they called Him Teacher.

To be sure, Jesus is a Teacher; but He is infinitely more! If Jesus is only a religious instructor, we are hopeless. Following only a moral teacher means trying to be saved by doing all the things prescribed in the body of teaching. Our problem is that “doing good” does not help us because we are dead inside. Spiritual death requires the prescription of a miracle – new life. New life comes because Jesus is God. His death pays for the sin of all who believe in Him, and His resurrected life enables us to live. I count His death as the payment for my sin, and I count His life as my Way to live (Romans 6:10-11).

The disciples needed desperately to realize that Jesus was more than their Teacher. When they cried out to Him in that storm, He told the sea to be still, and the sea listened! A complete calm ensued. Staring into the face of the new situation Jesus had wrought by His own power; the disciples “became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'” (Mark 4:41). His followers’ notion of Him as simply “Good Teacher” was blown out of the water, if you will.

A new-found, vital reverence swept over the men as they became awakened to the true nature of Jesus. They must have thought to themselves, “This Jesus tells creation what to do!” I wonder if any of the disciples ever looked back to the Psalms to find what is spoken in chapter 33, verses 8-9, “Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

Jesus is God. He is more than my Teacher. I have hope because He commands all of creation. I have hope because He gives me life when I can only offer death. I have hope because He can tell the swirling circumstances of my life to come to calm perfection when He sees fit.

Rather than appearing too dignified and declaring only, “Jesus is my Teacher,” I will stand with my mouth agape and proclaim, “This Jesus amazes me!”