What is the main attribute of Jesus that is rarely talked about?
Our Pastor posed this question.
In all honesty I said, “He always chose to do the will of the Father.”
Others said, “He was gentle… He was loving… He was patient…
He had compassion.”
These are all true and all a part of who Jesus is and was.
The question goes deeper than that.
Dictionary.com summarizes it as:
Attribute: a characteristic quality or symbol of a particular person.
Our Pastor said:
“We must remember Jesus as the Lion of Judah, strong, courageous,
bold with power and strong intent. When demons met him they ‘knew’ who he was.
“He was never intimidated by them HE was intimidating.”
The Son of the Most High knew what to say and do, and the ones who were terrorizing the people became the terrorized by the one who held the most power.
Jesus was not afraid of them or scared of who they were.
Mark 5:1-5
They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons with his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
Jesus was not afraid of the evil that came from behind the spirits in this man.
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
Pastor said at this time the man who was known as ‘the evil one’ had lived for years in the rocks and no one wanted anything to do with him. He said,”For the first time in years, someone was asking the man,
“Who are you and what is your name?”
It is an identity issue and it is relational. (I care for you as a person who are you?)
The story goes on as Jesus sends the demons into pigs which were symbolic at the time as unclean and over a cliff to die . Then in vs. 15 the story continues:
When they (the towns people) came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. vs 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
(why… because they saw and were afraid of his power)
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. (wouldn’t you? He just saved his life and his identity)
Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
(Go home to your family who hasn’t seen you for years)
Jesus said ‘GO Home and tell them who healed you.’
That speaks of responsibility to move forward and away from what you were.
Pastor said, “So many times your past defines who you are now. It bullies you and it makes your identity not what it really is in the present moment. When you are intimidated you lack faith.”
The man who was healed was no longer the man hiding in the rocks.
He was different… he was released… and he was able to sit with a sound mind in the presence of Jesus. (A word was spoken and a life was changed forever)
Isn’t that just awesome that Jesus would reach out and change this man who didn’t even ask to be changed?
Jesus was not intimidated by demons and he was not afraid of them. He said to them ‘MOVE out’ and then he sent them with his words to their death.
Jesus was not intimidated he was intimidating.
The demons knew who he was… they knew about his power and they were afraid of him.
The man in the rocks was identified as a ‘mean spirited possessed person’ by the circumstances he had been living in. It wasn’t his real self. It was a ‘circumstance’ or situation he could not over come by himself.
Pastor ended by saying:
Being intimidated means I am being in the presence of a threat… being intimidating recognizes that I am present with a being that isn’t threatened.
A few questions for us to ask:
What circumstance do we want to find ourselves in?
What identity are we going to link to:
Someone who is hiding in the rocks or someone who has a renewed mind sitting in the presence of Jesus?