System Overload
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” ––Matthew 3:16-17
The religious elite in Jesus’ time just did not get it.
Their spiritual processors could not run the “Jesus application.” Their programs just couldn’t recognize a man who made it a habit to connect with the sexually immoral, spiritually shunned, physically unclean, and ethnically impure.
This would often send the religious leaders’ spiritual hard drives into a system overload as they desperately tried to make sense of Jesus. The ease with which He floated from the temple to the countryside, from the synagogue to the sinners’ districts, raised eyebrows and ignited plenty of gossip. He broke their rules about first- and second-class citizens. He was not acting “righteous” in his associations. His credibility as a spiritual leader was eroded by His dubious itinerary.
The Father, on the other hand, was rejoicing saying, “Way to go, Son!” Exactly!” God’s Son was moving the kingdom not just in shady back alleys of first-century Israel but also in every other place where those starving for acceptance were found.
Jesus did not blend with the contemporary religious simply because He made His grace available to all. To be this way, He could not be codependent with culture, racial caricature, tradition, or the pseudo holy practices of exclusion.
To deliver God’s grace on earth, the criteria was this: genuine need. When He found this, He would jump in the boat and make it over to that person’s shore. “Jesus unplugged” is a story of grace in motion—dangerously attractive, inviting, and controversial.
And God’s dream for us is that we be the same. Unplugged from the world and their opinions, untethered from the religious hypocrisy of performance faith, and undone by His love so He might love others through us.
Father, I know that without risk there is no need for faith. You have given me everything, now help me use it.