Don't Box Me In

Sermon Thoughts/Notes

Jesus here in this chapter is establishing the Gospel. This is the good news that He is about to bring to the people. They loved the good news until they found out that it wasn’t only just for them.

They go from admiration (v22) to indignation (v28)

People are upset that Jesus is saying that He will bring this message to other people. They I believe are also concerned with the content of this message. Not only did they have their own ideas of what the Messiah would look like and where He would come from, but also what He would say. Therefore they deemed him a heretic and in this moment used the law to try and stone Him.

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In Matthew and Mark we get the impression that the words of Jesus are being totally rejected. They could not receive this from Him, because of where He was from and what He was saying. So when Jesus uses an example of their own history they lose it and try to kill Him. They had a picture in their minds of what the Messiah was going to look like and when Jesus didn’t fit that mold they rejected Him.

We put Jesus in a box when it comes to our personal lives and the way that we do church.

When you look at the Bible one of the questions that you need to ask is where do I find myself in this story. Every story that we read they are full of characters and what the Bible wants us to do is place us in a role in the story. With the mentality that we have and the thought process that we use, where do you fall in this story. The issue is, we don’t really like to see our selves for where we truly are in these stories. But if we are honest with ourselves when we look at some of these stories we would be on the side of the mob trying to kill Jesus.

There are certain mentalities that we posses that if placed in the Bible story don’t put us on the right side of history. We say the same about what is happening with trump today. People don’t understand. That no you may not think that you are racist, but the mentality that you have throughout history is what laid the foundation for oppression. I will never say that those at the trump rally are racist. I can’t just make that judgement. But here is what I can say. As I look throughout history the ideas that are present at these rallies if you had to place them in history wouldn’t be on the side of the oppressed, but the oppressor. By no means should we call people pharisees and stuff. What we must do is ask if you were to take this mentality and ideology and place it back during the time of Jesus where would you fall? Would you be one of those that boxed Jesus in? Would you be one of those that didn’t believe? Would you be one of those that didn’t care about the oppressed and broken hearted? Where would the mentality that you have now place you in the Biblical narrative.

Jesus spends a good portion of His ministry fighting against the box that people are trying to put Him in. Jesus doesn’t operate according to our boxes. He operates as He will. So Jesus doesn’t just come and live a quick life of a week and die on a cross. But the Gospels give us an understanding of what His life was like so that we don’t make the same mistakes when it comes to putting God in this box.

is Jesus mission statement. This is His purpose and Jesus is making something very clear. He has come to share a specific message. Not only was He to share a specific message, the message also was to reach those who the church during this time has neglected to reach.