From the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry until His death on the cross, Jesus was the object of His enemies’ testing and taunting. Jesus could have immediately silenced His opponents by using His authority as the Son of God to call upon His Father to display divine power through signs and wonders. Instead, He refused to act outside of His Father’s will. Philip Yancey in the Jesus I Never Knew describes Jesus’ “refusal to perform and overwhelm” as amazing and observes that “God’s terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute that he granted us the power to live as though he did not exist, to spit in his face, to crucify him.” (p. 78) Throughout the ministry of Jesus, He continually exercised this pattern of restraint.
Jesus refused to call upon God’s divine power to meet His human physical needs, such as hunger, when doing so would go against the plans and purposes of His Father. (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11). Jesus exercised restraint even amid raw, physical need.
Jesus refused to give signs or perform miracles on demand to prove His authority or to entertain (Luke 11:16, Luke 11:29-30, Matthew 16:1-4). God performs miracles according to His will and not according to a person’s wants or demands ( Hebrews 2:4). In submitting to the authority of His Father, Jesus understood this and exercised restraint.
Jesus refused to call upon God’s divine power to protect and save Him. During Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of his followers attempted to defend Him with a sword. In response, Jesus reminded them that all He had to do was ask His Father, and His Father would instantly send thousands of angels to assist (Matthew 26: 52-54).
Jesus also exercised restraint on the cross when insults were being hurled at him, taunting Him to “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God” and “Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:39-44) Because He knew that it was not the will of the Father, Jesus did nothing to resist arrest or prevent His death on the cross.
Jesus was the ultimate example of submitting entirely to the authority of the Father and walking out His Father’s plans. Jesus could have given into His enemies’ cajoling and coaxing; He could have easily met their demands and silenced their taunts. He could have called down fire from heaven, destroyed His enemies, and convinced everyone that He was the Son of God through His display of power. But Jesus, like His Father, exercised restraint, and instead of using fear to coerce belief, He chose human freedom. Yancey observes: “Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason he created us (p. 78). Jesus chose not to overwhelm us with power but to overwhelm us with love.
THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS
When you are being tested and taunted by the enemy of your soul, how can you exercise a pattern of restraint as Jesus did?
Jesus always aligned Himself with His Father’s will. He would not act unless He was sure that His actions would accomplish the plans and purposes of His Father. In what ways can you more closely align yourself with the will of the Father? How can you be sure you are walking in His will?
Prayer Focus: Jesus, thank you that You chose to exercise restraint when You walked this earth and continue to choose to exercise that same restraint from heaven. Thank you for setting an example for me on how to exercise personal restraint and instead rely on the Father’s love. Self-control is not easy, but with You, anything is possible. Finally, Jesus, thank you for your overwhelming love that summons me to your side. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
