Grace: The Beauty of Jesus

When I set out to write this blog, I set out to write one blog about how Jesus was grace personified but as I researched the topic more and more, I realised that one simple blog post would not give me the time to convey the message in the way that I wanted to. As a result, I will be posting the grace personified blog as a series of blog posts. The objective will be to take each definition of grace in turn and show how Jesus embodied it.

• Elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion or action
• A pleasing or attractive quality of endowment
• Favour or goodwill
• A manifestation of favour, especially by a superior
• Mercy, clemency or pardon
• Favour shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity
• An allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor before a suit can be brought against him/her or a penalty applied

So, I will start with the very first definition. Elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion or action.

Now the world takes an outwardly view and looks at the external beauty of an individual when considering how ‘gracious’ someone is. I’m sure Jesus was very handsome in form but that is not what I want to concentrate on. I want to focus on the elegance of manner and action. Just for completeness, I will mention that Jesus demonstrated elegance in motion too. If we recall the beginning of his ministry when he returned to Galilee to preach the gospel and went to his childhood village of Nazareth, he delivered a very eloquent message to the people that had them amazed and bewildered. He ended it with the famous line “a prophet is accepted everywhere except his own home town” which made the local furious and they actually mobilised to kill him. They sought to drive him off a cliff but the accounts say he slipped through the crowd and out of the town into the neighbouring town of Capernaum. Now, this was a town where he was known and recognised. These people knew him, they probably played with him as a child, they probably interacted with his family, his parents and siblings, they probably went to his father for his services. I don’t know about you but I don’t think I’d have much luck slipping through a crowd of people in my home town who sought to harm me. I can imagine people shouting “there he goes right there!” or “whoop his butt!” and I’m sure their language will be far more colourful than mine. Jesus slipped right through this crowd with ease and went on his way. It doesn’t say he hid, or ran or made away in haste, it says “he went on his way”. The preceding verse says “they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built” so this tells me they had hands on him yet he slipped through and casually walked away. I can just imagine it now like a scene in The Matrix; people’s hands reaching for him and him just gliding through like they weren’t even there. If you want the full account just take a look at Luke 4.

Back to my original plan for this blog, the manner and actions of Jesus.

From all accounts, the actions of Jesus consisted of healing the sick, feeding the hungry, teaching those that needed knowledge, weeping with those who are mourning, raising people from the dead but the ultimate action of Jesus was laying his life down so that we could live eternally free from sin.

I always found it interesting when I looked at the order in which Jesus did things. His first miracle of turning water into wine was also a significant one. The imagery of marriage and its direct reflection of the relationship within the trinity is amazing but that is something for my other blog (http://themarriagemanspeaks.blogspot.com). The first thing that struck me is that when they ran out of wine at the wedding, Mary went to Jesus and told him. This leads me to believe a few things:

1. Mary knew what Jesus could do and already knew who he was
2. Mary understood how important marriage was to Jesus (again, one for the other blog)
3. Mary understood the compassion of Jesus

Now Jesus not only miraculously turned the water into wine saving the family from shame but he did so in a spectacular and simple way. He provided them with at least 120 gallons of wine and not only was it wine, it was top quality wine that made the master of ceremonies call the bridegroom over and praise him for the quality. When Jesus does something, he doesn’t just do the bare minimum, Jesus will go beyond your expectations to the point where people will celebrate what he has just done. The interesting thing is that the volume as well, given how much wine the guests must have already consumed, I’m sure Jesus could have just done one of the ceremonial water jars but he didn’t, he blessed the wedding party beyond their expectations to a point where the blessing would remain and overflow beyond the wedding celebrations. The act of stepping in to help save someone’s wedding, the act of turning water into wine and the simplicity of the whole thing was just beautiful. I can just imagine how calm and composed Jesus was throughout yet this wasn’t even the beginning of his public ministry.

When the time came for Jesus to show out for the glory of God, boy did he show out. There was always structure to how Jesus acted out his ministry. Jesus always healed the sick or performed another miracle and then fed the people; on occasion that included feeding them physically and even when he did that he did it in a miraculous way. In all instances Jesus fed the people spiritually. So we can imagine this as a 3 step process!

Step 1: Demonstrate the power of God

Step 2: Teach the word of God

Step 3: Live out the power of God

Did Jesus really need to carry out step 1, not really! He did this for the benefit of the people, in John 4 Jesus asks the people “Will you never believe in me unless you see signs and miracles?”. Our human nature is driven by the physical and what we can see but God is spirit and works in a way we cannot see or comprehend in the natural John 4:22 says “But the time is coming – indeed it is here now – when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him in that way. For God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” The signs and wonders were minor miracles compared to the miracles Jesus was capable of. He limited his power to working in a capacity that people could relate to, he met their immediate needs with the minor miracles but was saving the major miracle for the grand finale. Jesus could have come and destroyed the power of sin and left all in a matter of minutes or seconds if he really wanted to but he is concerned with the state of our hearts. He wants people who are truly in love with him and not the idea of him, hence the second step after getting their attention.

Jesus teaches the people the word of God. Now Jesus was there at the beginning and he will be there with the Father at the end. He was there when the heroes of our faith were fashioned in the palm of God’s hands, when the breath was put into their lungs and when they returned to the dust. He knows the secrets of the universe and the intricacies of the scriptures. Jesus went through the law of Moses and the words of the prophets constantly revealing himself to the people in these scriptures. He taught them with parables to make known the truth to only the discerning hearts. Jesus fed those who hungered to know the man behind the miracles and the power by which he operated. This must have been an amazing time for them. Imagine a people who read the Torah but really had no understanding of what they were reading. They simply followed a religious process because that was what was expected of them. Even the religious leaders, scribes and students of the law only knew what had been passed down to them but now the words were coming to life, the meaning was being revealed, things made sense, everyone was able to understand and every nation would be able to partake. It must have been like a masterclass every time Jesus taught the word of God, so much so that people did not want him to leave or they followed him where he was going, there is an account of this in John 6:1-2.

No person came into the presence of Jesus without being spiritually fed. Even as early as the time of his presentation at the temple 8 days after his birth, being in his presence cause the holy spirit to come upon people. Simeon, a righteous man of God was drawn to the temple that very day by the holy spirit. He needed no help to recognise Jesus as the messiah. The spirit of God that had been feeding his soul for year confirmed that Jesus was the messiah. Not only did God lead Simeon to the temple, he ensured that the witness that Jesus was the messiah was confirmed by Anna who also recognised Jesus for who he truly was.

The first encounter people had with Jesus were the Shepherds who came to see him after their visitation from the angels. Being in the presence of Jesus left them transformed and made them go out and give witness to their experience. The wise men who came see him at his birth were visited by the spirit of God and told to return a different way home, avoiding King Herod.

If you truly encounter Jesus, you cannot leave his presence the same!

Step 3 – Jesus lived out the power of God. This truly needs no explanation. Every account of Jesus demonstrates how he lived out the power of God. Accounts of people being healed by touching his clothing, legions of demons being cast out and silenced, people being raised from the dead, feeding 5 thousand people plus (as the men alone numbered 5000) with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Jesus lived out the power of God to heal you from all afflictions, resurrect the dead parts of your life, provide for your needs when all the odds seem against you, but the most important thing that Jesus did was live out the power of God to save you.

Jesus took all the sin of all mankind upon himself and went to the cross. This single act alone, demonstrates so many characteristics of grace; mercy, selflessness, clemency but it is the beauty of it I want you to behold. Though its description comes across gruesome, a man with nails in his hands and a crown of thorns placed on his head. A man that had his back beaten till the flesh opened up, a who had a spear thrust into his side, a man that gave up his life in the cruellest of practices, crucifixion. Though a dark time, so dark that God blacked out the face of the earth so he did not have to watch the death of his only beloved son, it was also a time that freedom came. Freedom in the way of 3 words; “it is finished”.

Those 3 words put an end to the power sin had over people, those 3 word put an end to the separation of man from God, those 3 words ended the hierarchical system that religion had created meaning that all men were free to come to God in one accord. His resurrection 3 days later sealed the victory over the grave, symbolised our rebirth in salvation and our new life with Christ Jesus.