Insanely Generous Love

When Jesus of Nazareth announced that the kingdom of God that he was ushering in was like a feast or like a banquet, people should have known that this was not your run-of-the-mill apocalyptic prophet. The declaration should have given his listeners a clue that there was something unusually upbeat about this man’s message. Sure, Jesus would talk of judgment and the consequences of sin and self-centeredness, because that was a part of reality; but his overriding message was that God is good and that he is out to do good in abundant ways to all people. 

His Good News of the Kingdom

The God of the universe has invaded our planet. He came in Jesus of Nazareth. The age to come has already broken into the present age. This means that Reality is on our side. Now that this has been made plain, there is nothing more important than seeking the kingdom of God. We must make the kingdom, the reign of God, our greatest passion. It is like a great treasure found in a field worth the sacrifice of all we have (Matthew 13:44). It is like the pearl of great price that a man would sell everything to gain (Matthew 13:45–46).

Jesus' Courage

While it may be surprising to speak of the submissiveness of a great man, we expect to see boldness and courage in the lives of those who have great impact, and we are not disappointed when we come to Jesus. Submissive—yes. Timid and fearful—absolutely not. It is this combination of qualities that we find hard to understand or implement, but which makes Jesus so unique and worthy of imitation.

Jesus' Submissiveness

Some time ago, when I began studying the Gospel of Mark in search of the character and personality of Jesus, submissiveness was the first thing I wrote down about him. We do not go much more than two paragraphs into that Gospel before we read of Jesus submitting to John the Baptist via his baptism in the Jordan River (Mark 1:4–9).