“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. Matthew 13:51
This is, perhaps, the thing I love most about the Lord. Jesus doesn’t impose on us: Jesus reasons with us. He who is fully God yet fully man engages other men not as the imposing God but, instead, as the reasoning man.
He could have humiliated the disciples by saying something like, “repent or die, worm;” or “get with it, morons.” He could have said nothing at all. He could have done any number of things; He’s God. Instead, Jesus asked them a question, engaging them on both intellectual and spiritual grounds. I’m betting He understood the irony of it all because, in fact, the disciples really didn’t understand all that He was saying. They were men of fragile and limited scope; small-town, small-time nobodies who were slow to grasp the full picture of what this fully man full God was telling them face to face.
In their defense, they were just like me and you. I struggle every day with some aspects of what faith in Jesus really means. How can we be holy (because He makes us holy) when, in fact, we are sinful people from birth? Why do I struggle against temptations every day and yet God still loves me more than I could ever imagine? Will Jesus see me as a sheep or a goat, as a bad or good fish, at the end of time? I don’t know what your struggles with faith are, even you who are strong believers. But I bet you have some. Everybody does.
Do we really understand all these things? No, I don’t think we do. And, in that, we’re just like Peter, James, John, and the rest. And they had the benefit of actually being with Jesus in person. So, what does Jesus do with us in this situation? He engages with us; He builds us up. With the Disciples, He engaged in person, face to face. With us, He speaks, through His Spirit, to our hearts, through our consciences, through our intellects. He appeals to us through what we know, both enriching and challenging what we know so that we might have the fullest knowledge of Him to choose our way. He makes Himself known to us through Scripture, through teaching us meanings and lessons in the Bible that we can use to grow closer to Him.
With some folks, that engagement provokes instant understanding, instant repentance, instant change. With others, it takes time. To some, Jesus speaks in parables because He knows that’s the best way to reach them. To others, Jesus speaks directly, imparting knowledge that easily leads to understanding. It depends on who we are, and He knows that. He doesn’t demand we do X or Y: Jesus reasons with us. It shows, yet again, that He values and respects us. I love that about Him.
For more read: Matthew 13:52
Lord Jesus, praise to You. Thank You for reasoning with me.
Practical Proverbs 