The God of Surprises

Jesus is the God of paradoxes and surprises.

Paradoxes:

- you have to die to live

- you have to give to get

- you have to humble yourself to be honored

- you have to be last to be first

Surprises:

- Jesus’ grace to the woman caught in adultery in John 8.

- Jesus’ power in raising the Widow of Nain’s son in Luke 7.

- Jesus’ glory in His transfiguration in Matthew 17.

- Jesus’ love as He died for us on the cross.

The biggest surprises come in how Jesus deals with death.

Mark 5:35-42

While He was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with Him except Peter, James and John (the brother of James). When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” The crowd laughed at Him. But He made them all leave, and He took the girl’s father and mother and His three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. Holding her hand, He said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed.

Luke 7:11-16

Soon afterward Jesus went with His disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed Him. A funeral procession was coming out as He approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, His heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” He said. Then He walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” He said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Great fear swept the crowd and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited His people today.”

John 11:39-44

“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank You for hearing Me. You always hear Me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

There are several surprises in these three miracles.

First, Jesus is not intimidated by death.

Death brings fear to most people. Even people who know that they will go to heaven to be with God are a little frightened by death.

Jesus is not frightened by death. He is not intimidated by death.

Why?

Jesus knows that He Is More Powerful than death.

And Jesus proves His power over death by bringing the young girl, the young man and Lazarus back to life.

Second, Jesus is control in each of these situations.

Jesus doesn’t let the crowd’s emotions dictate what He does or how He does it.

The crowds were:

- grief stricken

- hopeless

- unbelieving

Jesus confronts these emotions with:

- confidence

- compassion

- anger

- tears

Jesus knows what He is going to do and how He will do it, so He has confidence.

Jesus understands the pain and hurt of those who love the people who died, so He shows great compassion.

Jesus hates death because He sees it as the mark of sin. He sees it as the result of sin.

Paul tells us that death is the result of sin in Romans 5:12. He says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”

Jesus shows anger and tears as He confronts death.

Third, Jesus follows the Father’s schedule for doing these miracles.

He follows the Father to Nain at the exact time when the funeral procession was leaving.

He follows the timing of the Father to first help the woman with the blood disease before He raises Jairus’ daughter.

He waits two days before He goes to the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

Jesus could have let the urgency of the families and crowds determine when He dealt with each situation.

He didn’t! Jesus always let the Father’s will determine the what when, and how of His life.

The fourth surprise in these three miracles is that He raises these three people in different ways.

With Jairus’ daughter He goes into her room and physically touches her (holds her hand). She is a young girl and needed Jesus’ loving touch to give her comfort.

With the Widow of Nain’s son, He has the men lower the coffin and, looking the young man in the face, gently tells him to get up. The first thing the young man needed to see was Jesus’ face to give him peace as he came back to life.

With Lazarus, Jesus stands outside the tomb and shouts out for him to come out. The crowd needed to see Jesus’ authority and power.

The last surprise is that Jesus views death as only temporary. Jesus tells the Widow of Nain not to cry. He refers to Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus as sleeping.

Jesus saw death as a temporary thing. He knew that He would restore life to each of these people.

Jesus is the God of surprises.

He surprises us to show us that we can’t put Him in a box.

He surprises us to show us that we can’t figure Him out.

He surprises us to show us that He is not nice and tame.

Jesus is the wild, untamed, undomesticated God. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways not our ways.

Jesus surprises us so that we have to stay connected with Him and focused on Him.

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is about:

- Letting Jesus conforms us to Him, not Him to us

- Not following religious rules but following Jesus

- Staying connected with and focused on Jesus

- Letting Jesus interrupt our lives with His awesome surprises

May Jesus the God of surprises fill your life with His surprises of

- Grace

- Power

- Glory

- Love

Surprisingly Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

Joe