The Misbehaving Jesus

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Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later." (John 13:7).

John the Baptist was genuinely perplexed by Jesus. "Art thou He who is to come?" he asked from prison, "Or, look we for another?" Of course Jesus was the One; but what was it that so rattled the unflinching John that he had to voice his concerns? It was the same thing that rattles us today -- Jesus does not always do what we suppose He is going to do. And sometimes what He actually does do is so unforeseen and misunderstood, that we are left like John -- bewildered by the Lord's misbehavior.

John was preaching of one who would come with a winnowing fork in his hands to thresh the floor and sweep things clean, throwing the chaff into the fire to be burned. But Jesus didn't do that -- not yet, anyway. He came meek and lowly, riding upon the colt of a donkey. So John was stumped by the Lord's misbehavior.

In the verse today Jesus is putting His disciples at ease while He washes their feet; a thing lowly servants were supposed to do -- not Messiahs. And yet Jesus misbehaves and does the lowly thing. Who ever heard of such a thing -- the King behaved as a servant; and treated His subjects as royalty! It was indeed a strange circumstance in which the disciples found themselves placed by Jesus, and the only word He gave them on the matter was this -- "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."

And this scripture now reaches over time and consoles each one of us with the same assurance from the Lord in the midst of our own God-given perplexities -- "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later." Has the Lord misbehaved in your life, and left you scratching your head over what He is doing -- for it seems so different from what you thought He would surely do? Welcome to the Kingdom! The rest of us have been wondering when He was going to wash your feet.

In 1905 Charles Tindley summed it up best is his popular and time-proven hymn....

Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand
All the ways that God would lead us to that blessed promised land.
But He guides us with His eye; and we'll follow till we die,
For we'll understand it better by and by.

Oft our cherished plans have failed, disappointments have prevailed;
and we've wandered in the darkness heavy-hearted and alone.
But we're trusting in the Lord, and according to His Word
We will understand it better by and by.

By and by when the morning comes.
When the saints of God are gathered home.
We'll tell the story how we've overcome,
For we'll understand it better by and by.

My friend, open your heart today to this enduring word of assurance, spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself -- "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."
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