Underestimating Jesus

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
- from Acts 9:4-5

Saul doesn’t even know who he’s persecuting. What does that tell us about Saul? He must have a long list of people he’s persecuted. Stephen. The church in Jerusalem. The church in Judea. Maybe other people in other places at other moments of his life.

Bullies often have bad memories. Their brutality is focused on their own discomfort, sense of inferiority, fear, shame, or desire to find a place to belong. That bullying impulse collapses the bully’s world down on his or her head, shrinking and narrowing whatever they can see.

Saul never seemed to stop and consider the possibility that Jesus might have actually risen from the dead as his apostles claimed. In Saul’s mind, Jesus was probably just a failed revolutionary at best (and a dangerous, good-thing-he’s-not-around-anymore heretic at worst). Saul literally had no idea who he was messing with.

This gap between who Jesus really is and who people perceive him to be shows up for all of us. We all underestimate Jesus. We underestimate his compassion, his power, his forgiveness, his love, and his involvement in our world. Jesus’ enemies underestimate him and so do his friends.

Jesus’ response to our not knowing him isn’t to be angry at us or disappointed or to punish us. Instead, he chooses to forgive us and seek forgiveness for us: “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing” (Luke 23:34). He chooses to reveal himself to us: “I, the one speaking to you—I am [the Messiah]” (John 4:26). He chooses to love us: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (John 15:9a).

In what ways do you think you might be tempted to underestimate Jesus? What influence does that have on your walk with him?

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