Wait a second… (Luke 23)

One of the things that struck me in today’s reading (Luke 23) is that throughout most of the chapter Jesus is being led around by others and is silent, but still He has this big impact on all kinds of people.

• Pilate and Herod are obviously impacted, and in a bizarre twist even become friends because of Jesus.
• The chief priests and rulers have obviously been impacted, and are now trying to make sure Jesus ends up dead.
• Simon of Cyrene is impacted by Him.
• The two criminals being executed next to Jesus are impacted by Him.
• The centurian at the cross is impacted in a big way by Him.
• Joseph is impacted and is now giving a grave.

It’s all kind of odd. Jesus seems out of control, totally at the mercy of others, and almost speechless, yet lives are changed by Him even still.

And what’s much odder to me is how many lives are not changed by Him today. Right? About 83% of people in America don’t attend church. It’s much worse in many other countries. And … even many of the people who do attend church don’t seem to have their lives changed by Jesus.

I don’t know what exactly that says, but surely it shows that we are doing something woefully wrong in the way we do (or don’t) allow Jesus to live through us and represent Him to the world and teach about Him.