Follow the King

Have you ever looked at what was happening in your life and asked, “Jesus, what are You doing?”

 

The disciples did too. But what looked confusing in the moment was often Jesus preparing them for what they could not yet see. Faith isn’t believing Jesus will always make sense—it’s learning to trust Him when He doesn’t.

Jesus called Mary's anointing "beautiful"—but the invitation of the text is not to be like Mary. It's to sit where Mary sat: at the feet of Jesus.

Mary treasured Jesus because she knew Jesus.

How many of us know about Jesus—but don’t truly know Him? Seeing the beauty of Jesus changes everything.

We come to treasure Jesus deeply as we come to know Him fully.

This generation.

Jesus says, "All these things"—including the Son of Man coming on the clouds—"will take place in this generation."

What if Jesus wasn't delivering a timeline for the future—but preparing His followers to remain faithful no matter what the future held?

And that's helpful to know—because Christians spend an awful lot of time asking, "When is Jesus coming back?" While Jesus spends an awful lot of time asking, "What will I find you doing when I do?"

The disciples thought Jesus was preparing them for the end of the temple.

He was—but not in the way they expected.

What looked like the destruction of the temple was actually the beginning of something far greater: God's presence would no longer be confined to a building, but would dwell in His people through the Holy Spirit.

When a widow with only two small coins emptied all she had into the treasury, Jesus turned everyone's attention to her—not because of her giving, but because of her living.

A widow who gives her last two coins is either completely foolish or absolutely convinced that her God will provide. Her total surrender and trust reflected the total surrender and trust Jesus would display later that week when He emptied Himself for His people.

This poor widow was far more than an example of generosity—she was a reflection of the King.

A man approached Jesus who understood how the kingdom of God worked: love God and love your neighbor. So Jesus told him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

But near is not the same as in.

One must do more than understand the kingdom of God. One must acknowledge the King of God.

Because Jesus is more than one of David’s descendants—Jesus is David’s Lord. More than a human Son of David—Jesus is the divine Son of God.

Seven husbands. One widow. A crazy question. 

"In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?"

Jesus revealed we cannot understand the resurrection age through the filter of this present age. And that's good news!

Because of His resurrection, death does not get the final word!

Most of us read the Good Samaritan and ask, "Am I the priest? The Levite? The Samaritan?"

But Jesus may have intended something very different. What if we're not supposed to see ourselves as the one offering help—but the one needing help?

The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus did not pass us by. Jesus became the wounded Man to rescue those who wounded Him. And because we have been shown mercy, He calls us to become people who show mercy.

Pentecost is about far more than a strange moment in Acts 2 where people spoke in tongues.

Pentecost is a massive convergence of Old Testament promises: a new and greater Sinai, the reversing of Babel, and the day the prophets longed for.

And it is all initiated by the Spirit of God descending from heaven to dwell within His people—revealing that the gospel is about far more than simply going to heaven when we die.

The Spirit desires to transform us, empower us, and partner with us in bringing heaven to earth right now—changing the way we understand salvation, kingdom, mission, and everyday life.

When Jesus was given the opportunity to publicly condemn one of the most corrupt governments in human history, He didn't go there. In fact, He almost seems dismissive.

Holding a Roman tribute coin, He says: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s—and to God what belongs to God.

Because Jesus recognized the greater danger is not merely living under a corrupt government—but giving that government an allegiance that belongs to King Jesus alone.

You can hold that coin—as long as that coin is not holding you.