I want to tell you about the most
radical person that has ever lived!
Jesus, He did things that were completely unheard of in His day!
·
He questioned the rulers of the
Jewish faith when no one dared to question what they said or did!
·
Jesus rebuked the scribes and
Pharisees. These men were legal experts.
Scribes wrote
up documents- like contracts for marriage, loans, the sale of land, or the buying
of houses. Pharisees tried to keep their traditions in place.
·
Jesus performed miracles
on the Sabbath.
John 5: 1-11 The Healing at the Pool
5 Some time
later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there
is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is
called Bethesda[a] and which is
surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a
great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who
was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When
Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a
long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,”
the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is
stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then
Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once
the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so
the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the
Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he
replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and
walk.’ ”
12 So they
asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man
who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the
crowd that was there.
14 Later
Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again.
Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man
went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him
well.
·
His disciples (the men who followed
Him) did not fast and even ate without washing their hands. While the
Pharisees did not eat until they had poured water over their cupped hands because
it was required by their traditional law. So what Jesus did was considered
offensive & wrong. Jesus wasn't worried about washing their hands because He was their cleanser & could heal them from any sickness or disease.
·
He threw people out of the temple for
selling things in Gods house.
Matthew 21: 12
&13 Jesus at the Temple
12 Jesus
entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling
there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of
those selling doves. 13 “It is
written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of
prayer,’[a] but you are making it
‘a den of robbers.’
Jesus wasn't just being radical for the sake of
being different or drawing attention to Him. He wanted people to stop following
traditions & instead be led by their love for God. Traditions are good but
can distract us from what God wants us to do.
We are to be radicals like Jesus but that does
not mean we are to be ridiculous, rebellious or uncontrolled.
Jesus also gave several examples of how we are
to do this by submitting to those in authority, and keeping the peace whenever
possible.
- · Jesus was a radical; but he was also fully committed to doing God’s will. He was a servant to his followers, as well as a leader.
- · We are taught by Jesus to submit to those in authority, namely our parents, church leaders, and the government. We are to obey man’s law except when it conflicts with God’s law.
I want to encourage you to reevaluate what your
life is being led by & make whatever changes are necessary to be led by your
love for God even more. That’s the path
to being a true radical follower of Christ.
Let me give you some ideas of ways to increase
your radical following of Jesus:
1.
Spend time in prayer daily & ask
Jesus to help make you more like Him.
2.
Read the Bible so that you know how
Jesus was & don’t do anything that doesn't agree with what it says.
3.
Share Jesus with others in a bold and
radical way.
