The Man who made no sense

Most things in life make pretty good sense. In fact, there is a law that states something about that. It is called Newton's Third Law of Motion. It says, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."  When I was in high school I used to play alot of pool. I actually got pretty good at it after many all night episodes of doing nothing but shooting pool with one of my buddies. I can remember shooting for what must have been 8 hours straight....maybe even more a few times. This was a regular event for weeks.

Pool is a game of skill. Sure, any Joe Blow can come in, knock the poo out of a few balls and get lucky a few times. But I am talking about the pros (unfortunately I was never a pro). They have skill. Its as simple as that. They depend on Newton's third law. Whether they know it or not, they have studied and mastered it also. It takes just the right amount of strength from the cue stick. You have to hit the cue ball exactly in the right spot. Then the cue ball must hit the other ball in presicely the right spot, sending that ball on a predetermined angle to make its way into the pocket....lots of geometry (which I hated in school). It's all based on the fact that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It makes sense.

We can look at the court system. We see people getting in trouble and we see people receiving punishment. We can see here the same principle again. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Makes sense to me. If a man is convicted of rape, it makes sense that he should be punished and locked up. If a man is convicted of murder, it makes sense that he should be punished and locked up. The action is breaking the law, the equal and opposite reaction is punishment. Makes sense to me.

Then we can go on to relationships. A man is caught cheating on his wife with another woman. The equal and opposite reaction is divorce and she's gone. Makes sense to me. A relationship is built on trust. If you break that trust, as is the case with adultery or anything else, you can expect an equal and opposite reaction. Of course, that is the lack of trust. It is a devastation to character. You get the point. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It just makes sense.

Everything just makes real good sense until we get to the New Testament. There we are told about this Man named Jesus. Allow me to tell you just a little bit about this Man. He is the one who healed the blind on the Sabbath. That may not sound like much but understand that Jewish people are not allowed to do anything on the Sabbath that has to do with work. To this day, that is why the most conservative Jewish people live so close to the synagogue. They cannot get in the car, start it up, and drive it. That's too much like work. They don't flip on light switches. They don't cook. They don't clean. And they certainly don't harvest food. Remember when Jesus was walkng through the field and His disciples started picking the grain because they were hungry. The Pharisees hated them for that! And they hated Jesus even worse because He allowed them to do it! It just didn't make any sense!

Jesus was the King of not making any sense to people, especially religious people like the Pharisees. Let me give you a rundown of a few more things Jesus did or said that didn't make any sense......and still don't to the world: He was born of a virgin (Luke 1). He left the 99 to go find the 1 (Luke 15). He said if one "doesn't hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14). When questioned about how many times we should forgive others, he said "seventy times seven" (Matthew 18). When people were caught in the very act of sinning, He let them go (John 8). He ate and talked with the people who had the worst reputation in the whole area (Matthew 9). He took the job of the lowest person in society.....washing feet (John 13). He came back to life after He was killed (Luke 24).

Time and time again Jesus amazed people by the words He said and the things He did....mostly because they didn't make any sense. Why should we look any different? Are we not called to be followers of Christ? Did Paul not encourage his listeners to "imitate me as I imitate Christ?" Are we not called to show the same exact love and grace that God showed sinners while He walked the earth? Has He not shown you that very same love and grace over and over and over? I know He has shown it to me. He has shown it to you too. The question is......do you even realize it?

To me, the beauty of the Gospel is that it makes no sense whatsoever. Holiness demands that I be sent to hell because I am not holy. That makes sense. But the fact that I get to go to heaven based solely on what Jesus did.......that makes no sense at all. I don't have to pay for what I have done wrong? That's crazy! Everyone must pay for their mistakes....at least that's what makes sense. But Thanks be to God for His loving Rescue Plan, Jesus Christ, who took my sin and your sin and paid for it fully, so that we need not do anything except reach out by faith and accept His forgiveness!

So how about it? Do the things you do and say look like what everyone else is doing? Or do they look like what Jesus did.....and still does to this day? Do they make sense to the rest of the world? Or do they make sense to Jesus?

As always, thank you for reading! I would love to hear from you on anything I write. Many things that I have written are also available to view at http://www.plunkett1.wordpress.com/. Right now Ben, the editor of the site, is posting a paper that I wrote on marriage and cohabitation in series form. Feel free to call me stupid or smart. You can say I'm right or wrong. You can tell me to jump off a cliff or encourage me to keep writing.....or you can just bite your tongue and not say anything at all. If you would like to, contact me through the blog, facebook, or email (carneylawncare@yahoo.com). Merry Christmas!