Matthew 4:12-22; Mark 1:14-20; Luke 4:14-30; Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37; Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41; Matthew 4:23-25; Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-5:11;

Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16; Matthew 9:1-17; Mark 2:1-22; Luke 5:17-39; Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-3:6;   Luke 6:1-11; Matthew 12:15-21; Mark 3:7-19;

Luke 6:12-19

These early days of His ministry are in many ways a microcosm of His entire mission and purpose from the first day of Creation until the day Jesus appears at the end. God calls. Some accept and some reject. Cain and Abel. Noah and the world. Abraham. Moses. Gideon. Saul and David. Jeroboam. As I sit here and look back I just shake my head in wonder that so many could reject the calling. So many days, I know Jesus looks at me and does the same.

The purpose of the gospels is not to cause us to wonder at the good choices and poor choices of the people Jesus encountered. Instead it is to force us to see ourselves in the story, coming face to face with Jesus. As I go about my daily work and Jesus calls me, do I drop everything and go? When I am confronted with uncomfortable teachings, do I try to find loopholes or weaknesses in His commands? When I see myself – a redeemed child of God – do I take Jesus for granted like so many Jews and try to withhold Him from those not like me?

Those closest to Jesus rejected Him quite easily. His fellow Nazarenes and fellow Hebrews dismissed Him in spite of the miracles and proof of His deity. Pharisees and Sadducees rejected Him out of hand even though His teaching amazed and had true authority. Even his own brothers refused to believe.

Then, almost inexplicably, Samaritans accepted the call as did Syro-Phoenicians. Simple fishermen and tax collectors listened and followed. His mother never wavered.

In different ways and at different times in my life I am each one of these people encountering Jesus. Each day I meet Jesus again for the first time. With each temptation, I see Him and myself from a different angle. In the gospels I not only learn about the nature of God as Jesus reveals Him to me, I learn about my nature. What will I be today? Whose will I be today?

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.'” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 3:7-15

Today … what will I do with Jesus?

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!