The Best Defense is No Defense

Thursday night, I was hanging out with a couple of girls that, like me, are in Juneau just for the summer. We found ourselves in the Waffle Company: blue walls, wood floors and furniture, even crab shells acting almost as a border above the windows. The value of the Waffle Co. is the view of Auke Bay, the amazing waffles, and the presence of Christ in the place. Aside from the churches, no building in Juneau seems to have peace and warmth compared to here.

After talking, eating and sharing a bit, we opened up the Bible and were deciding where to read. As I flipped through Mark, the Lord led me to a section entitled “Prophet without Honor.” So we read it, re-read it and started making observations. The passage was about Jesus going to His hometown, speaking the words His Father had given Him and doing miracles. In light of the fact that the three of us were away from home and growing, we knew returning home at the end of the summer would have its definite challenges and it made a bit of sense why the Lord would bring us to this passage in particular.

As we read, we found Jesus’ family and friends acknowledge that Jesus was saying great and wise things as well as doing the miraculous. However, they mostly made comments to the effect of, "Isn't this the carpenter?" or "Don't we know his sisters?" They made Him like themselves. They saw what He was now doing as something that wasn't his identity. In their minds, He didn't have a right to be the Christ, even though that is exactly what He was. The thing that really struck Hailey, Jaclyn and me was that Jesus didn't try to defend His actions. He did what His Father had for him and He was who He was. Even now, I’m remembering instance after instance when God's character is not explained. He chose rather, to simply be “I am.” God didn't tell Moses His name was, "I do and defend my actions," but rather "I am."

When we grow and find ourselves in the company of others unfamiliar with the growth, but very familiar with our old ways, we might do well to acknowledge that they are not comfortable with the changes, but simply be who God is making us without defense. There are times to explain Christ as in us and other times simply to let Him come through. Are there places in your life where you feel the need to defend Jesus in you?