JESUS THE REVOLUTIONARY

JESUS - THE REVOLUTIONARY

R. D. Ice

Levi the Pharisee hurried to the gate ¹

to speak to the others about

the crisis presented by this Jesus

“The Son of Man,” as he calls himself.

Jesus is young, not yet fifty years old. ²

But he claims to have seen

Abraham, of all people.

"Abraham rejoiced to see my day."

And Jesus shows no respect to God. ³

I heard him say, “Abba, Father.”

Doesn’t every child say “Abba, Daddy.”

Who does this Jesus think he is?

God in human form?

We cannot have young people -

this upstart Jesus - destroying

our cherished Tradition, our

depository of knowledge, our

faith in God Above.

This Jesus just doesn’t understand  ⁴

the way we do things,

our cherished traditions,

the holy forms we have developed

over these many years.

“Watch out!” Gamaliel said. ⁵

“You might be fighting against God.”

“If Jesus isn’t who He claims to be,

nothing will come of it.  But

if He is the Son of God, you cannot

overthrow Him.”

After all is said and done, Jesus

was right, and Levi was wrong. 

Neither youth nor age

was the crux of the matter.

Being right with God was.

Jesus came with power and authority.

Blind eyes were healed.  Deaf ears

were opened.  Crippled legs were

made strong.  Even the dead

were raised to life in a powerful way.

Levi should have known.  God

had been speaking through

the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms,

giving clues and identifiers

to clearly show the Messiah

when He came.  ⁶

"God shall raise up a Prophet," ⁷

Moses said, "like unto me."

"Him shall you hear!"

But Levi did not hear.

"You search the Scriptures," Jesus said. ⁸

"You seek eternal life."

"But these very Scriptures testify

of Me, the Son of God."

Levi's mind was firmly made up.

He did not know that he was following

what seemed to be fact, yet was not.

Like a horse wearing blinders,

his vision was restricted and clouded.

"When anyone turns to Jesus," Paul said, ⁹

"the blinders are taken away."

"The natural man needs God's help."

"The Spirit illuminates our understanding."

"It shall come to pass," Joel wrote, ¹⁰

"God shall pour out His Spirit."

"Whosoever calls upon the Name

of the Lord shall be saved!"

Jesus is still the Revolutionary.

New generations discover Him,

and old generations may fail

to recognize that they have not

been following His Way fully.

But to all who believe in Him ¹¹

Jesus gives the authority and

privilege of becoming and continuing

to be God's children and friends.

                ¹  John 11:45-53

                ²  John 8:56-59

                ³  Mark 14:36; John 6:46

                ⁴  Matt. 15:3-9; 23:23-26

                ⁵  Acts 5:33-39

                ⁶  Luke 24:44-49

                ⁷  Acts 3:22--26

                ⁸  John 5:39-40

                ⁹  2 Cor. 3:14-17; 1 Cor. 2:12-16

                ¹⁰ Acts 2:16-21; 11:15-18

                ¹¹ John 1:12-13; Matt. 8:11