Bulletin Articles
Bulletin Article for 10/01/2023
“Jesus, Name Above All Names”
Dee Bowman– c/o Folsom church of Christ, Folsom, CA
The most important person who ever walked across the stage of human events was Jesus of Nazareth. No person ever had the effect on mankind; no one ever made the difference He did. He was unique in every sense of that word. He was, and remains, the illustration of goodness and the personification of hope. No man ever spoke as He did, no one ever said more pertinent things than did He.
We have no information about how he looked. Was He tall or short? Was He ruddy complected or fair? Was His hair thick or thin? Was His personality extraverted or guardedly restrained? How did He walk? Did He stride confidently or slowly and deliberately? What about his vocal characteristics? Was His voice low and slightly raspy or mellow and middle-pitched? And how about tempo? Was His speech of a rapid, staccato sort, or was His manner slow and calculated? And how were His gesticulations? Did He point deliberately and often, or did He just allow His speech to speak for itself without much gesturing?
The fact is, we don’t know much about Jesus’ personality, His visage, or His style of speech. But we do know some things about Him.
He was compassionate. In Luke 15 - He is criticized for eating with publicans and sinners. His defense is a triptych of parables—the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost son—each of which is saying primarily the same thing: “I came to seek and save the lost.” He was compassionate to what were considered the undeserving, just as He was to the religious hierarchy of His day. He saw men’s hearts, not their pocketbooks. He saw their motives, not their public displays. He saw what they needed, not what they wanted. He provided what would otherwise have been impossible - salvation for all men.
He was devoted. Over and again, Jesus is brought under extreme pressure by those who were either envious of Him or who were brought under the condemnation of His teachings. Never once did He back down. “I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me,” (John 6:38), was His oft-repeated response to His critics. In His model prayer, He taught His disciples to pray, “not my will, but thine be done” (Matthew 6:10). Even in the passion of the garden, He sought relief from the terrible fate which awaited Him, but prayed, “nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done” (Luke 22:42).
He loved without restraint. No one ever loved like He did. In the midst of intense persecution, in the midst of disdain by those whom He created and to whom He had given life, He never lost His affection or the sense of mission which that affection had demanded of Him. He loved, when no one would listen. He loved when His own people rejected Him. He loved, when everyone who had respected Him and professed their love for Him, turned and ran. He loved when He was beaten. He loved when He was scorned and despised. He loved when He looked down from the cross. Hear Him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” What kind of love is that? What kind of undeserved, indefatigable, never- lapsing love! Who can fathom it? Who can explain it? Certainly not me.
He did what He came to do. He came to seek and save the lost. And He did it. He came to bring an example of holiness and piety. And He did it. He came to identify truth and illustrate how it works. And He did it. He came to show us His Father’s love. And He did it. He came to make possible a way for man to be resurrected. And He did it. Oh, what a Savior!
