Can Jesus Trust Me?
I’m reading through the gospel of John right now. I recently ran smack into a description of Jesus that I’ve read before, but never fully considered. And honestly…it’s kind of scary.
“Now while [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.” (John 2:23-25, NIV)
Huge crowds were clamoring for Jesus’ attention. As far as celebrity status is concerned, Jesus’ stock is soaring like a rocket. Everybody gathered around him, wanting to see a miracle.
But the Bible says that “Jesus would not entrust himself to them” for one simple reason. He knew them too well. John says that Jesus “knew what was in a man.”
Think about that. Here was a crowd, seemingly ready and willing to believe in Jesus. Wasn’t that his mission…to bring people to a saving faith in him? So why in the world didn’t he trust any of them?
Because he knew them, inside and out. He scanned the crowd of cheering, adoring fans…and saw no one that he could trust. No one that he could count on. Jesus has the supernatural ability to see beyond the outer facade and into a person’s soul.
These verses hit me a like a freight train. One question is swirling in my head…can Jesus trust me?
Things were going great in this scene from John’s gospel. Jesus is performing great miracles, and everybody was pumped! I wonder what happened to this crowd when Jesus was hanging on the cross. More than that, I wonder if some of this cheering throng later joined the angry mob, shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Makes me wonder if Jesus can count on me. Am I one of his swooning fans who will stick by him when times are good? Do I jump ship when things are heading south?
Jesus knows the answer to that question. The Bible reminds us that Jesus knows what lies buried deep within us. He knows if he can trust me or not.
I’m wrestling with finding the answer myself.
What about you?
August 24th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Okay Mike, this one got me. I am not sure I ever remember reading that verse. Can Jesus trust me? Would he pass me up? WOW. I have some serious thoughts and prayers to wrap around this verse. Thanks for your blogs and for what GOD is doing through you at ACC. It is exciting to see God working through you and, as I know from me, despite me. Keep up the great work.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Good points to that verse. Did people really want to know Christ or was it His celebrity or entertainment they sought? I had similar thoughts at a recent Toby Mac concert. Were the people there to lift up Christ through Toby’s music or were they there to lift up Toby?
This makes me think about the verses in Matthew where Christ tells the wicked to depart from Him because He never knew them. Think about that.. we know its not a lack of intellectual knowledge because God knows our every detail. So it has to be ‘know’ at a different level…. maybe its something akin of saying - “I could never trust you.”
I got some things to think on now.