Today’s passage is a reminder to all of us that, above all else, the Good News is about Jesus being raised from the dead! Today’s Christianity has nothing new as Jesus’s presence showed that only a few number of people were receptive to the Good News. And here again, we see that the truth about Jesus was not popular in Apostle Paul’s days, as it is in our days: he angered the Jews who had condemned Jesus for blasphemy, but many Jews still became followers of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2). He angered the Romans who worshiped their emperor as god, even so Ceasar’s household turned to Jesus (Philippians 4:22). When He said Jesus was both human and God, he angered the Greeks who believed that divinity was soiled if it came in to contact with humanity, still, many Greeks accepted the faith (Acts 11:20-21).
My brother, my sister, the Word of God that preaches the resurrected Christ is being believed by many people every day but only few see their lives truly transformed for eternity. Why? Because some are looking for he living Word for eternity while others are looking for the Word that will help them have an easy life on earth! My friend, Jesus did not come to make your life on earth easy, that is the reason why He said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). He carried His, and His was loaded with the entire humanity’s sins and He reconciled us to God. So, how heavy is your cross before Him for you to keep presenting it to Him?
Unfortunately, a lot of believers have an incorrect view of Christ, that is why they are after Him for wrong reasons (they want Him to help solve an earthly problem: sickness, health, money, etc…). This too is not new: Read Luke 19 to realise that when Jesus met Zacchaeus, the Bible says, Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus to get to know Him. There was a huge crowd, but Jesus saw only one person among the crowd and singled that person out of the crowd. Why? The reasons he was looking for Jesus had nothing to do with earthly matters, therefore His heart was receptive to the Good News.
My friend, yes, you have accepted Jesus, but have you already accepted the Good News of Jesus? Now listen to Apostle Paul telling Timothy (and us) what happened to Him for accepting the Good News: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:8-10). Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.