I picked up a book yesterday in my mother-in-law’s basement. I actually went down there to retrieve something else and found myself distracted, as usual, staring at her shelf of old books. This one caught my eye, “The Incomparable Christ” by J. Oswald Sanders. There was nothing attractive about the cover, but a sweet friend had raved about it, so I took it upstairs, sat down on the couch and began.
And now here I am, still thinking about what I’ve read and that I would like to do a bit of blogging as I go along. You see, this book is all about Jesus. And as I write this, I am a little frightened by what you’re thinking right now. Like, what if you don’t like Jesus? Or what if you don’t think He’s real? Or what if you think He was real, but you just don’t get why people would devote the whole of their lives following Him? What if that makes you a bit squirmish and now I’m making you a bit squirmish? (Sigh.) But, can I just tell you something? The more I get to know who Jesus is, the less I’m concerned about whether or not people feel a bit squirmish when I talk about Him. Because the more I get to know Him, the more crazy in love with Him I become. And the more crazy in love with Him I become, the more I just can’t help but tell someone what I’ve found. Isn’t that what love does to a person? It sets you wildly free. Free from fear. Free from the worries of what other’s think. Free to just spill it all out, to shout it if you must—I’m in love! I’m in love! Come quick—see what I’ve found!
Now, like any love-sick girl, I just have to tell you more about this Man. Like, who He was and what He was like during His earthly existence. The one word to sum Him up? Perfect. He was perfect. I know, it sounds strange. Like, what is perfect anyways? But, it’s true–at every stage of His life, in every single circumstance, He was absolutely faultlessly perfect. Now, at first I thought to myself, “Who would want to be around a perfect person?” But, listen to this—His character was perfectly balanced. He was never too much of one thing and not enough of another.
It has been said that in Jesus’ character no strong points were obvious because there were no weak ones. Strong points necessarily presuppose weak ones, but no weak ones can be alleged of Him. In the best of men there is obvious inconsistency and inequality, and since the tallest bodies cast the longest shadows, the greater the man, the more glaring His faults are likely to be. With Christ it was far otherwise. He was without flaw or contradiction. (The Incomparable Christ)
He never said things that He shouldn’t have said or didn’t say something when He should have spoken up. And the amazing part? He always spoke the truth in love. He never had to go back and say He was sorry, not because He was too prideful to do so, but simply because He never did a wrong thing to be sorry about! He was altogether lovely. Every quality considered beautiful and attractive in a person was found in Him. And yet you know something strange? There were still people who didn’t desire Him. Who wanted nothing to do with Him. There was just no pomp and show about Him. Not enough glamour and glitz perhaps. Just a humble, ordinary God-man. A man who stooped low to wash His friend’s dirty feet. (John 13:3-5)
The Bible says that Christ was God’s great mystery. (Colossians 2) Mysteries are hard to understand, difficult for us to wrap our minds around. And I do find that I’m perplexed by Him. And yet I’m hungry still–I want to delve in, to search Him out. I want to know Him more. So, come along with me if you’d like. I think we won’t be disappointed.
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The Incomparable Christ
