Appreciation of Jesus

Jesus was God’s “Son, with whom I am well pleased.” We must not take this statement for granted, or water it down as if it doesn’t mean what it says—that Jesus did things that pleased God the Father. He tells us so Himself:

“… I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8:29, ESV).

Wherever there was an instance of doing something to please God, there was also a choice to not do it. No authentic choice, no merit for doing the right thing.

Now and then something happens to me that enhances my appreciation of the choices that Jesus of Nazareth made. For example, I would have thought that Jesus had an unfair advantage over us when it came to temptation because, after all, He was the Son of God. But the fact is that Jesus set aside all His divine advantage in that regard, as we learn in Scripture that He “emptied himself” and “had to be made like his brothers in every respect.”

When Jesus was tempted and chose not to give in, it was brutal because He wrestled the temptation to the ground every time, and that’s what makes a temptation hard—the duration of time one resists it. People tend to give in to temptations so quickly that it leaves no trace of struggle in the mind. Satan doesn’t have to bring out his big guns if we are the type to capsize at the gate; we are not even worth his best efforts. We are, in that case, like the insipid souls of Screwtape’s banquet in hell. But Jesus fought the good fight to the point of sweating blood. Others are imitating him today in Syria and Iraq. All of us are exhorted to the same muscularity:

“In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4, ESV).

Another appreciation for Jesus that came to me while I was at a retreat is how He would engage people in conversation even when He was tired. There He was, surrounded and jostled all day by lovers and haters and miracle seekers alike. He finally gets a chance to rest alone by a well, and here comes a woman, a local Samaritan. “You’ve done enough for one day,” the devil must have whispered to Jesus. “You’re entitled to be quiet and mind your own business; in fact you should.”

That’s what a retreat speaker like me may be tempted to do after three days of speaking to a crowd. She may be eager to get out of the car at the United Airlines terminal, say goodbye and thank you to her ride, and then buy a croissant at the first eatery and hunker down and talk to no one.

But that’s not what Jesus did with the Samaritan woman. I appreciate my Jesus more and more.

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