My Daily Pause

Calling of the Apostles – 1481 – Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494)

As incredible as Jesus’ miracles were, it is even more incredible that he had followers.

The Jewish establishment of the time had so many highly ranked detractors of Jesus, it was easy to convince people that what they saw was not important. It was easy to discourage them by insulting Jesus over and over again. In a previous post, we listed ten of those insults recorded in the gospels.

Not only was he insulted, they planted little seeds of doubt.

They made racial slurs.

They lied.

They even used their power and money to elevate themselves above him in the eyes of the people. Through that power and influence they were able to stem the flow of believers to Christ during his lifetime. In addition to the ten insults we looked at previously…

• They said that no prophet could come out of Galilee (John 7:52)
• They accused him of leading the multitude astray (John 7:12)
• They said that since Elijah had not risen from the dead, it was impossible for Jesus to be the Christ (Mark 9:11)
• They said he had an unclean spirit (Mark 3:30)
• They said, “He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21)
• They said he transgressed the tradition of the elders (Matthew 15:2)
• They said, “This man is not from God” (John 9:16)
• They said he forbade to give tribute to Caesar (Luke 23:2)
• They said that he made himself a king (Luke 23:2)
• They said he was an evildoer (John 18:30)
• They said that Jesus claimed he would destroy the temple of God and build it in three days (Matthew 26:61)

Disciples of Christ

We often refer to the events recorded in Luke 9:18-22 as “Peter’s Confession.”

During that meeting, Jesus tells them that he has to suffer and be rejected by those in power. All of the negative chatter must have come up along with the other speculations of who the people thought Jesus was.

Not much has changed now:

We still hear similar lies about the Lord…

His teachings are challenged at every turn in the news media…

They even make movies that change “what the Bible says” in people’s mind.

There are many that believe in Christ right now that do not defend him when they have an opportunity. It doesn’t really matter the reason, not defending that belief in Christ is as good as not having it.

As much as ever, he needs good solid disciples that are willing to talk about him despite his current low popularity.

Jesus’ meeting with the twelve ends with a discussion on how important that it is to make the sacrifice and keep following him. (Luke 9:23)

Question: Will you be one of those Jesus is ashamed of? (Luke 9:26)