Luke 10:21-24 (CEV)
21 At that same time, Jesus felt the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, and he said:
“My Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I am grateful that you hid all this from wise and educated people and showed it to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that is what pleased you.”
22 “My Father has given me everything, and he is the only one who knows the Son. The only one who really knows the Father is the Son. But the Son wants to tell others about the Father, so that they can know him too.”
23 Jesus then turned to his disciples and said to them in private, “You are really blessed to see what you see! 24 Many prophets and kings were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.”
Hidden
Have you ever watched a young child discover something beautiful right in front of them? Sat in a park and watched as hundreds of people walked by before a small child noticed just how intricate that blade of grass was or how fantastic that buttercup looked?
I don’t know about you, but the delight in watching that child’s discovery is almost greater for me than if I had just discovered it myself. Their delight leads me into discovery, causes me to open my eyes and see far more than I was seeing just a few moments before.
And this is Jesus sitting right here doing the same thing. He’s sitting and watching all of these ordinary folks we’ve spent the last week following have the chance to really see the goodness that God is offering. He’s watched as prophets and kings and important people have claimed an interest in these things, and yet completely missed the boat, and now he’s watching these ordinary followers getting it and he’s so excited he gets a bit choked up, I think!
So he responds with a prayer of thanksgiving. He responds with awesome gratitude to God for the privilege of watching things hidden become seen by the smallest, most ordinary folks in the bunch. He responds with such incredible insight to the fact that this was God’s intention all along – that this heart that delights in being revealed to the lonely and lowly, the last and the least is exactly the heart of God.
Jesus tells us that he’s the only one who knows the Father – he’s come from the Father and he knows him so well that the Father has given him everything! And Jesus’ response – given all of the goodness of the knowledge of God – is to want to pass it on … to us!!! To pass on the heart of God, to pass on the goodness of God, to pass on the knowledge of a God who’s love for us is so incredible that it seeks us out to delight us in its beauty in the most ordinary, everyday things.
This is the point. This is the reason that Jesus is here. This is the reason that Jesus has come. To reveal what is hidden to the ordinary, everyday folks. To have the privilege of watching the delight in their eyes as they came to see all that was good and beautiful about who the Father was. This is the purpose of all of this! Jesus has come to show people like you and like me the beauty of our Father. It’s this incredible gift, wrapped up in such strange packaging that the important, powerful people have missed it over and over and over again, yet these ordinary, everyday folks have discovered it right there waiting for them.
And I’m blown away.Journal Questions:
- Take some time today to look out for five small, ordinary things that are filled with the delight of God’s good, beautiful love.
- If you can, take a picture of each thing, or jot down a note in your journal, or pick it up and take it with you as a reminder of God’s good, beautiful, ordinary-everyday-folks love for you.
- At the end of the day, take some time to reflect on these things of beauty.
- What might they reveal to you about yourself?
- What might they reveal to you about God?
- What might they reveal to you about what God thinks of you?
