A Strange Way To Save The World

Look at Matthew 11 with me again.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:29 (NIV)

When Jesus enters Jerusalem the week before he is crucified – the Triumphal Entry he is identified as Israel’s Messiah through this verse from Matthew 21

’See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’

Matthew 21:5 (NIV)

Jesus was the perfect example of gentleness. His response to a broken and sinful world was to gently restore that which was broken.

Often we misunderstand gentleness. We have a tendency to associate gentleness with weakness. We often believe that if someone is gentle, then they are weak. Christ was gentle, but I assure you he was not weak. The power of God was very real in his life and ministry. The miracles he performed were powerful. His ability to endure the cross when he could have rejected it, speaks of his power. His resurrection and triumph over death clearly reveal his power.

Jesus was powerful, not weak, but he knew how to wield that power with a gentle touch. Super heroes overpower their enemies, but Jesus saves the world through true gentleness.

The world needed saving, but rather than send a hero who was overpowering, God sent his son, the gentle shepherd to lead us and guide us into salvation. That’s a strange way to save the world.

Superheroes are overpowering…Jesus is gentle.

God’s method for saving the world was strange in yet another way…

• Superheroes display mighty acts…Jesus displays LOVE

Spiderman can shoot webs out of his hands. He swings over the city at breakneck speed. He can scale a wall without the aid of ropes. He’s strong enough to bend steel. His spider sense tells him when something’s about to happen. There’s no question that Spiderman can display mighty acts.

You’d think that when the world needed saving, God would send a superhero who could display mighty acts. But God chose to send his son who, though he could display mighty acts, instead displayed love.

Every miracle Jesus did was a mighty act, but each time it was done in order to display his love. Time and time again Jesus was moved by love and compassion to heal the sick.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd

Matthew 9:36 (NIV)

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him

Matthew 20:34 (NIV)

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.

Mark 1:41 (NIV)

His miracles were acts of love for the world he came to save.

Probably the most well known verse in the Bible is John 3:16, which tells us of God’s love.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

John 3:16 (NIV)

The ultimate display of his love for us is his death upon the cross. That death is what saved the world, defeating sin and bridging the gap between God and man. Superheroes display mighty acts but God did better. He displayed the mightiest act of all, an act of absolute love, the act of allowing his Son to die in our place to pay for our sins.