Jesus Wasn't "Just Talkin'".

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Jesus spoke, He mean't what He said. That was one thing about Jesus that attracted so many people to Him. He was genuine. He had personal convictions. He just didn't do or say things because it was what was "expected", "appropriate", or, "politically correct". 

Jesus said things that were, first and foremost, true. Things that were helpful to others. Things that revealed the true nature and character of the Father. He kept His own commandments in what and how He spoke. "Love to God and love your neighbor as you do yourself". "Say things to people you would want them to say to you".

Do you remember the story about when He was teaching in a home and had a company of conservative preachers sitting by and watching Him? For a refresher here's the story from Luke 5.

Jesus cures a paralytic in soul and body^17-20 One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and experts in the Law were sitting near him. They had come out of every village in Galilee and Judea as well as from Jerusalem. God’s power to heal people was with him. Soon some men arrived carrying a paralytic and they kept trying to carry him in to put him down in front of Jesus. When they failed to find a way of getting him in because of the dense crowd, they went up on to the top of the house and let him down, bed and all, through the tiles, into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees began to argue about this, saying, “Who is this man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that.”²² Jesus realised what was going on in their minds and spoke straight to them.^23-24 “Why must you argue like this in your minds? Which do you suppose is easier—to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But to make you realise that the Son of Man has full authority on earth to forgive sins—I tell you,” he said to the man who was paralysed, “get up, pick up your bed and go home!”^25-26 Instantly the man sprang to his feet before their eyes, picked up the bedding on which he used to lie, and went off home, praising God. Sheer amazement gripped every man present, and they praised God and said in awed voices, “We have seen incredible things today.”

When you read between the lines at verse 21 and 22, you realize, by the response that Jesus gives to the preachers, that they were probably saying something like:

"Boy, we never thought we would hear this Jesus guy tell a bald faced lie in front of so many people. He's only saying that to make this poor guy feel better. No one can forgive anyone else's sins. Now we have Him. Everybody here has heard Him commit blasphemy. This will be a slam dunk case against Him." 

Once Jesus realized what they were thinking and plotting, He says something to the effect:

"Oh, so you think I am just talking? You think I am just trying to make this poor paralyzed guy feel better so he'd leave us alone? Hey, I don't work the way you folks do. 
So, since we're just talking here, and you don't think my words carry any weight... In your minds it would have been just as easy for me to tell this guy to 'get up and walk' as it was to forgive him his sins, right?
Well, just so you know that I mean what I say.... Hey, paralyzed guy, get up and walk for these men."

 When we read stories like this one it shows something that is hard for us in the 21st century to grasp but was one of the chief stumbling blocks of people who actually lived with and around Jesus.

This story reveals how utterly human Jesus appeared to those around Him. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us". People during that time had a very difficult time believing that Jesus was divine. We, on the other hand, have a very difficult time believing that Jesus was human.