The ‘Looks’ of the Lord Jesus – Part 2

[All quotations are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise stated]

Some received the benefit of His care and thoughtfulness

Consider the disciples during the incident at Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus ‘began to teach’ openly¹ that He ‘must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed’.²

Peter then ‘took Him aside [presumably, that he might not be seen to reprove the Lord in front of the other disciples] and began to rebuke Him.³ But, turning round and looking on His disciples, ‘He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan”’.⁴ The Lord knew (i) that the other disciples shared the very same aspirations, ambitions, and hopes as Peter and (ii) that they might easily have been led astray by Peter’s remonstrance. For their benefit as much as for Peter’s, therefore, a public ‘rebuke’ was necessary.

His consideration and care shone even brighter for His mother at Golgotha. ‘When … [He] saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing [near] by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son”’.⁵ There were other women standing there (including Mary Magdalene and His aunt, Salome) but He had eyes for only one.

Perhaps, just for a moment, our Lord remembered the time He had entered the world through her womb … perhaps He recalled the time when she had watched Him grow up as an infant, how she had washed, clothed, and fed Him … perhaps He thought of the thirty years they had shared together in lowly Nazareth. I do not know.

But I do know that His mother had now reached an age at which, in normal circumstances, she would have looked to Him, her first-born son, for support. But, instead, she was compelled by her very love for Him to stand and witness Him suffer the humiliating and agonizing death of a condemned criminal.

Surely, He must have seen the misery written across His mother’s face as she stood there - helpless. His wounds bled, but she could do nothing to staunch the blood. His mouth was parched, but she could do nothing to moisten it. Arms which had once gently clasped her neck were outstretched out on the tree, but she was unable to caress them.

Doubtless the Saviour knew that every lash of the soldier’s scourge on His back had made her wince - that she had felt each iron spike driven through His hands and feet - that, when they twice⁶ stripped Him of His garments, she had felt His shame keenly - that every cruel taunt and cheap jibe flung in His teeth had wounded and stung her too.

How then, we ask reverently, did the Lord feel as, knowing all that she was suffering, from His cross He saw his mother?

When He said to Mary, ‘Woman, behold your son’, He was, in part at least, thinking of the past and was, in effect, saying His ‘farewell’, His ‘goodbye’, to her. For, as I understand them, those words marked the close of an earthly relationship which He and Mary had shared for a third of a century but which could not be taken through the grave.⁷ When He said to the beloved disciple, ‘Behold your mother’, He was thinking of the future and was making full provision for her.⁸

Some received the benefit of His protection

Sometimes what He saw displeased Him and, if necessary, He was quick to defend and shield those under attack. Consider three such incidents recorded in the Gospel according to Mark.

(i) In chapter 3 we read in the closing section of the chapter how His mother and His brothers stood outside the house ‘calling Him’.⁹ When informed that they were outside ‘seeking’ Him, He asked, ‘Who is my mother, or my brothers? And looking around at those sitting about Him, He said, “Behold my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister and mother”’.¹⁰ That was certainly a look of favour and approbation.

(ii) But earlier, as recorded in the opening section of chapter 3, He ‘looked around’ with anything but favour and approbation!

The Lord was then in a synagogue and before Him stood a man with a withered hand.¹¹ Again, it was the Sabbath day¹² and the scribes and Pharisees¹³ were watching Him carefully, hoping to find grounds to accuse Him of the capital offence of Sabbath violation.¹⁴The Pharisees had recently witnessed how He had previously defended His disciples when they had criticized them for plucking ears of corn on the Sabbath.¹⁵ No doubt, they were hopeful that He would now violate the Sabbath law Himself, which they understood to prohibit every act not absolutely necessary.

The glares of the scribes and Pharisees declared loudly, ‘Don’t you even think about doing anything on this day of all days!’ Unflinching, Jesus took up the challenge, called the man forward and asked them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’¹⁶

‘If you have’, He was saying, ‘the power and the opportunity to do good and you do not do it, in effect, you have done evil¹⁷because, by taking no action, you become responsible for the need remaining unmet. If I have the power to heal this man’s withered hand (and I most certainly do) and I refrain from doing it, then I am as responsible for the fact that he continues to have a withered hand as if I myself had caused it to be withered in the first place’.¹⁸

‘To save life or to kill’, He added. By these words, the Lord explained that, although the man’s infirmity was not life threatening, nevertheless, in principle, all human actions (and non-actions) - no matter how small and seemingly insignificant - tend in one of two directions; the extreme in the one direction is to give life and the extreme in the other direction is to take life.

Challenged by His question, the scribes and Pharisees kept silent, refusing to answer.

‘And He looked around on them in anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, and He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”’. And when he did so, his hand was restored.¹⁹ And the same eyes which had earlier swept around a group of men with favour and approbation now blazed momentarily²⁰ around a very different group of men with anger at their unbelief and, possibly, at their refusal to answer His question.

(iii) In chapter 10, having heard the Lord’s teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage,²¹ His disciples were taken aback, concluding that, if the case was as He taught, it was better not to marry at all.²² Jesus had then spoken of those who ‘made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’.²³ In all likelihood, His disciples completely misunderstood His point, and so, when fathers²⁴ brought their young children for Him to touch them,²⁵the disciples were in no doubt that Jesus would have little or no time for the little children.

Certain, then, that the Lord would not want be bothered with children, His self-appointed bodyguard ‘rebuked’ those who brought them to Him.²⁶ ‘When Jesus saw this, He was indignant²⁷and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not prevent them, for of such is the kingdom of God”’.²⁸ He then folded them in His strong carpenter’s arms ‘and blessed them’.²⁹