The Irony of Jesus and the Non-Irony
John 14:6 NKJV
Jesus said to him,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me."
The life of Jesus is full of irony,
here are some things that do not make sense, at least to people.
It simply shows that God's way is often ironic and contrary to our way.
Jesus, He was born to be the Savior of the Jews, perhaps the King of the Jews, but in a Jewish stable, Jesus, the Savior of the world, was born.
With His power, Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed the hungry, but never once, not once for His personal gain did He ever use His power.
Jesus was crucified, died on a cross, and put in a sealed tomb,
but, the tomb could not contain Him.
Is it not wonderful that we as Christians:
believe in a Risen Lord,
the only faith on the face of the earth
to believe in a Lord that rose from the dead!
In all history recorded at the time of Jesus,
not one iota of evidence is contrary
to the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Words of Jesus' opponents often tried to trick Him. But, Jesus, this lowly, seemingly ignorant man was a genius wordsmith. To confound their questions, He was the master of using the words of His opponents to answer their questions. In the trick question, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar?" Jesus replied, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar, and to God the things that are God's."
Jesus never went to a funeral.
"He raised the dead. When the dead walk, the funeral is over!"
Jesus was born in a stable of lowly parents,
He never owned anything of any importance,
Lived in Humility,
Often, had to flee from danger, at the very least to avoid danger,
Fed people by the thousands,
Healed the sick, the lame, the dying,
Had only an swordless army of 12,
yet,
The enemy came in the dead of night to capture him,
And, the very one who captures Jesus, loses an ear,
and then Jesus, He healed the ear of His opponent/captor.
It is ironic this most humble and lowly Jesus
was considered by the Jewish leaders to be
the great threat to the nation of Rome.
Yet, His judge Pilate,
he could find nothing wrong, but allowed the crowd
and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, to have their way.
Is it the irony of ironies that Jesus went to his death because of the cry of "Crucify Him" from the very people He came to Save.
It is also ironic, the rich and powerful leaders of the Temple, the Sanhedrin, were never heard of or known after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
The Final Irony,
In America, in the 1950's
the churches were full,
new churches were built,
Most people truly worshiped God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit,
America became affluent,
But the irony of this affluence,
Many religious hard working people did all they could
for their children, gave them everything,
but values and reverence toward God.
For many of those children,
Things became their god.
Today, some 50 years later
there are about twice as many people in America
as in the 1950's
there are more churches than you can count,
but most are less than half full on Sunday morning,
and in America
There is far more poverty and selfishness today than in the 1950's.
Today,
It is ironic in a day of vast education processes in America and Western Society, at a time when people are more literate than ever,
No doubt, more people than ever Know about Jesus,
even know and believe He died and rose from the dead,
But, it is sad in knowing about Jesus
so many do not care to truly Know Jesus,
the Savior of the world.
Rather, today, the popular wisdom in expressing faith is
"I am spiritual, but not religious" or
"I respect all faiths" or
"I am a good person".
It is truly ironic things have not changed in 2000 years,
when the world needs Jesus more than ever,
more than ever, just like the vanquished Sanhedrin,
much of the world is "Morally Bankrupt".
The Non-Irony
It is NOT ironic but just sad,
"I respect all faiths"
is just a modern way of saying,
"Crucify Him, Crucify Him".(c) Lonnie Coggins
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