We’re in week 2 of this series called THAT Jesus where we talk through what seems to be 2 facets of Jesus we see in Scripture. One is the lovey Jesus we all know and love. The other is THAT Jesus, the one who challenges us, demands we change, pushes us to discover and pull out his greatness in us so we can fulfill his purpose on earth. THAT Jesus is willing to do whatever it takes to help you become THAT you he created you to be.

Last week I mentioned a verse in Matthew 12:46-50
46 As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.” 48 Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

With this being Mother’s Day and all, what a better verse to honor our mothers than a verse where it seemed Jesus was dishonoring his! He wasn’t, by the way. Jesus was illustrating that the Family of God includes those who are all about moving the Kingdom forward, even if your family of origin isn’t.

With today being Mother’s Day, I got to thinking about Jesus’ interactions with his mother over the course of the Gospels. I was curious to see what we could learn from these interactions, and what we could learn from THAT Jesus.

There are 4 words that stood out to me as I dove into this, and I believe the Holy Spirit wants to show us today not only these four areas, but how they play a role in our lives as we embrace THAT Jesus. The fact that they all have to do with his mother on Mother’s Day is just a fun little bonus.

1. Submit
When we say this word in the church, we immediately think of wives and husbands, but think for a moment about a young Jesus. Before he became THAT Jesus, he was baby Jesus, then toddler Jesus, then boy Jesus, and all this time as he was growing in his flesh, he was growing in his spirit.

Luke 2:39-40
39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

Now we find Jesus in the Temple. Luke 2:41-51
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

First off…moms out there:
If you’ve ever lost your kid at the grocery store, you are in good company. Mary gave birth to the son of God and lost him for three days.

Look again at verse 51: “was submissive to them.”
I think sometimes we have a hard time seeing Jesus in a submissive posture. I mentioned a few months ago how we had a hard time seeing Jesus in any other format than God Almighty. We have to remember that he was fully God AND fully man. But even before he was fully man he was fully child.

Jesus knew the Law.
Jesus knew the commandment that said, “Honor your mother and father.”
But he was torn, in a way, if you think about it. Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple. It seems that Jesus was as surprised they were looking for him as they were that they found him.

In verse 48, Mary asked, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”
East Texan version:
“Dadgummit boy you got us worried like a cat in a rocking chair store. Tell me what were you thinking before I whoop that tail end.”

Jesus replied in verse 49, “Why were you looking for me?”

This is the first time I can see THAT Jesus show up.
“Mom, you know why I am on earth. You know why dad sent me to begin with. Where else would I have been but where my dad is?”

What was Jesus saying?
“I wasn’t lost. You all are. And I am here where I should be getting ready for the work that will make you found again.”

Yet even in the middle of that, Jesus knew that he still needed his earthly mom and dad. So what did he do? v51
“And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.”

Jesus never counted his godliness as something to be grasped, but humbled himself. (Phil 2) Jesus submitted. WHY? Because if you are unwilling to submit, you are unwilling to be developed.

You cannot become your best without submission.
Submission is hypotasso. Hypo - under. Tasso - arrange.
Submission is being under God’s arrangement.

Jesus submitted to his father and mother to be under God’s arrangement so that he could be developed to do what the Father asked him to do.

In the same way, when you refuse to submit to a leader, a mentor, to God himself, you put yourself in a situation where development is off the table.

Submission is the first step in becoming who God made you to be and accomplishing what God created you to do. Not a single character in the Bible was unsubmitted and successful. Even Jesus. Without submission, you won’t be successful either.

Caveat: That does not mean submit to abuse or manipulation or servitude, etc. But it does mean be willing to be taught, be will to learn.

The result: Luke 2:52
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

2. Surrender
John 2:1-5
2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

I love this story. I know Mary was an Israelite, but you’d think she was Italian the way she immediately looked at the servants and said, ‘Do whatever he tells you.”

Couple of thing happening here.
First, let’s talk about, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” I can tell you for sure Mary wasn’t Italian, because Jesus would have been backhanded. Not Mexican either, or else the mighty chancla.

What was going on here?
Jesus wasn’t being rude. He was being THAT Jesus. The problem in this story is that Mary made an overstep.

Jesus hadn’t performed a miracle yet, so for him to perform a miracle would set into motion the next three years which would culminate in his sacrifice.
It was not for Mary to determine when that countdown started. So by demanding Jesus step up and do a miracle was an overstep of her authority.

Jesus only did what his Father said to do. John 5:19
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

This is not pitting a father vs a mother, but simply making the point that Jesus was not going to do anything the Father hadn’t told him to do. This kept Jesus squarely in his Father’s will. Many scholars believe this is why we get the next quote from Jesus, “My hour has not yet come.”

So second, let’s talk about that phrase.
Everything God does has a specific season, time, and moment. His season, time, and moment rarely happens when we want it. So partly, this could be an admonition that Jesus operates on his Father’s timeline, not anyone else’s. But partly that the precise moment for the first miracle just wasn’t there yet.

The problem is, Jesus did the miracle anyway. So what is going on here?

What was so big about his first miracle?
- Multiple prophetic words connecting the Messiah and new wine
- “On the third day” is a big deal. Not only is there a connection to his resurrection, but most Jewish weddings happen on the third day of the week because that is the only day in Creation God blessed twice. So God not only wants to give you the double portion on your wedding day, but that Jesus performed his first miracle on the third day was a sign that he was doubly good.
- Water to wine is more than meets the eye. It is the process of taking something ordinary and natural and doing something extraordinary and supernatural with it. It is God showing not only his ability to take care of us, but that, as the wine was the best according to Scripture, that God does even more than we could ask or think.
- That he fills six cisterns is indicative of man (six is the number of man) and that he can do the miraculous with mankind if we’ll simply allow him to fill us.

But beyond all of the symbolism and wondering about timing, Jesus clearly believed it was the Father’s time and he performed the miracle.

I mentioned in the first point that you had to be willing to submit so you can be developed, but submission is going to require you to surrender to God’s will. This is precisely what Jesus did in this moment. Something made him say “this isn’t my hour.” Something made him think he was not ready. Perhaps it was that the wine was not empty yet.

Matthew Henry
“His mother moved him to help them when the wine began to fail (so it may be read, v. 3), but his hour was not yet come till it was quite spent, and there was a total want; not only to prevent any suspicion of mixing some of the wine that was left with the water, but to teach us that man's extremity is God's opportunity to appear for the help and relief of his people. Then his hour is come when we are reduced to the utmost strait, and know not what to do. This encouraged those that waited for him to believe that though his hour was not yet come, it would come.”

God routinely waits until you are at the end of your rope to do the miraculous. He isn’t being mean. He is teaching you to trust him. But to trust him it means having to surrender!

Jesus surrendered to his Father’s will for his life. I love that Mary seemed to already know! That “Mother’s intuition” She knew the time had come and she was encouraging him to act! The Chosen, in this scene Mary says, “If not now, then when?”

If you have been asking God “If not now, then when,” let me ask you:
Have you surrendered it all to Jesus? EVERYTHING?

Your potential is stifled when you refuse to surrender.

Submit. Surrender.

3. Substantiate
This might not be a familiar word or one you use often, but I needed an “S” to make the message more memorable, BUT, the word really works for this point.

Jesus submitted and was developed. Jesus surrendered and his mission began. But now, Jesus was going to be substantiated.

Substantiate:
To prove something to be true with facts and evidence.

This substantiation came mostly through the Pharisees. He was constantly challenged by them, and at least 8 times, they tried to kill him!

The religious leaders hated Jesus. Some criticisms:
- disobeying Mosaic Law, sorcery, claiming to be the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God
- opposing Roman taxes, subverting the nation, and casting out demons by Satan's power.
- The leaders created laws to keep people from breaking God’s law, but then elevated those laws to the same level as Scripture, and Jesus violated their created laws, which infuriated them.
- The Pharisees believed that people's sins made them ineligible for God's Kingdom, but Jesus taught that self-righteous people are ineligible.
- The Pharisees also considered Jesus' claim of oneness with God blasphemous.

Jesus experienced push back on all sides, though, not just from the religious leaders. Matthew 16:21-23
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Talk about a THAT Jesus moment…

But Peter in that moment didn’t understand in the same way the religious leaders didn’t understand that when God calls you to something, you can’t expect an easy ride. There are going to be moments of trial and struggle and hardship where your mettle will be tested.
- These moments test your obedience.
- These moments test your faith in God and his process.
- These moments create evidence to prove your commitment to God’s plan.

This is why submitting and surrendering are so important. There’s no development without submission, and you can’t prove what hasn’t been surrendered.

The reason Jesus was experiencing these moments was because he was being THAT Jesus. What is amazing is that the leaders should have recognized Jesus. Nicodemus almost did. It was a THAT Jesus moment that kept him from doing so, however. Nicodemus was so concerned with the phrase “born again” that he missed Jesus.

Don’t get so caught up in what Jesus says that you miss who Jesus is. There are going to be times when THAT Jesus shows up and challenges a thought process or belief, an action or a desire. Remember what he came to do, not just in general, but in your own life.

As Jesus was substantiated, you will be, too. Stay submitted. Stay surrendered. And the evidence will show that in your life, he is Lord.

There is a moment in the Chosen after Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount. He is exhausted beyond belief and can barely even make it back to his tent. Mary is there with him, walking him to his tent. As he lays down, she covers him with a blanket, caresses his hair, and kisses him on the head as he goes to sleep.

I see the frustration and aggression in the challenges Jesus faced with the leaders, with people, even sometimes with his own disciples. There is faithlessness, doubt, and fear. I have no doubt that process of being proven was tough for Jesus.

Yet something the Chosen has made me think about is the presence of his mother. I guess I never thought about his mom being there with his disciples. Even from birth, he was never without her care.

While he always had his Heavenly Father, it struck me that there was one person Jesus could lean on during the entirety of his life, no matter the ups or downs, good moments or bad. His mother. She was there at his birth, at the Temple, at the wedding, at the Sermon, at his trial, his beating, his crucifixion, the resurrection, and beyond.

Jesus was constantly about his father’s business, but Jesus was also being constantly loved, supported, championed, and believed, by his mother.

Everyone needs someone who believes in them. I don’t know that we can be effective in this last word without them.

Submit. Surrender. Substantiate.

4. Service
What is it that God has called you to do? Can you accomplish that service with your current level of support?

We’re talking about THAT Jesus this month, but it needs to be said that we can’t embrace what THAT Jesus is trying to show us unless we embrace what he did for us. Jesus’ sacrifice is what made a relationship with God at any level possible.

So we have to realize with every hard teaching, with every challenge, with every word that forces a change in us, it is all with the end result in mind of service to our King. I want what God wants not because it is my duty, but because it is my delight. The more I embrace THAT Jesus, the more delighted I become in my service to him.

Jesus knew the power of delighting in God’s plan. Psalm 40:6-10
6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” 9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. 10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

Even Mary knew the power of delighting in God’s plan. Luke 1:46-55
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

The problem is that she had no clue that his mercy extending from generation to generation would require the complete destruction of her boy.

Jen Arnold
“For Mary, the pain must have been unimaginable. She not only witnessed her Son die, but she witnessed the horror of the manner of His death. She knew deeply and intimately of His perfection and innocence. She saw Him humiliated and His dignity destroyed as the soldiers stripped Him naked and cast lots for His clothing. She saw the wounds and pain from the beating He had taken earlier. She saw the crown of thorns pressing into his head and she saw the sign above Him that read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ While Jesus was suffering in His physical body, Mary was suffering right along with Him in the deepest depths of her soul.”

The whole time Jesus was alive, and even in the months leading up to his birth, she’d embraced THAT Jesus. She’d said yes to whatever the Lord wanted. Yes to being an unwed teenager in a society that would have stoned her for being pregnant. Yes to being tasked with raising the Son of God. Yes to the moments during his life where she was still ridiculed. Yes to seeing some love him, some hate him, and some try to kill him, all the while knowing who he really was. And yes even to standing by, helpless, as her son was beaten and killed.

I’ve already mentioned in this series that moment in Matthew 12 where Jesus said, “Who is my brother and sister and mother? Anyone who does the will of my father.”

John 19:25-29
25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

When I read this earlier this week, I connected the two dots between this passage in John 19 and the Matthew 12 verse. I’ve always read this passage to mean Jesus wanted his mother taken care of. That definitely could be it. But what if it was more than that?

What if Jesus was really saying, “John, you remember that brother and sister and mother teaching that was kind of hard? Well here’s your mother.”

What if Jesus was saying to Mary, “Mom, you’ve done what dad asked you to do. Well done, good and faithful servant.”

THAT Jesus isn’t always easy to embrace, but if you’re willing, you’ll do more than fulfill your service to God. You’ll find the overwhelming joy and satisfaction of a job well done.

So how do we respond today?

Submit. Surrender. Substantiate. Service.

What stage are you in right now?
If it is in submitting, kill the pride and embrace a mentor. Submit to his direction and leading

If it is in surrendering, stop making excuses for why you shouldn’t, and just dive in. As Jesus mother said in the Chosen: If not now, then when?

If it is in substantiating, stand firm! Hold the line! Stay faithful! And as issues are found within you, embrace the truth and address them!

If it is in service, continue to do everything as unto the Lord. Allow him to direct every step.

Lastly a word to the mothers out there.
It strikes me that there would be no Jesus without a Mary willing to say yes.
So for every mom out there trying your best to honor God and love your family, thank you. You’re always doing better than you think you are, and you’re never doing as badly as you think you are.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?