The Celebration of Jesus

The Celebration of Jesus
Luke 10.17-24

What was it like being Jesus? That’s one of the hardest questions for anyone reading the gospels, but this passage gives us some clues.

It’s all too easy for Christians to make the mistake of thinking that he just sailed through life with ease; being divine, we sometimes suppose, meant that he never faced problems, never had to wrestle with difficulties. Of course, the gospels themselves give us a very different picture. But, as we said earlier, we are easily fooled into thinking of Jesus as a kind of Superman. That sort of understanding might seem, to begin with, to be supported by this passage. Jesus speaks of seeing the satan fall like lightning from heaven. He gives the 70 power over all evil. He celebrates his unique relationship with the Father. He speaks of a fulfilment which the great ones of old had longed to see. Surely, we think, this is Jesus the super-hero, striding through the world winning victories at every turn, able to do anything at all? And surely, we often think, this Jesus is remarkably irrelevant to our own lives, where we face problems and puzzles and severe tests of faith, where despite our prayers and struggles things often go just plain wrong?...

Taken from Luke for Everyone – by Tom Wright