Today I want to show you something that astounded me a few years ago when I saw it in the Scripture.
It concerns just one word in the Bible, and that word is: Amazed. It occurs 31 times in the Gospels, and it usually describes the responses of the crowds to our Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve even incorporated it into our hymnology, saying:
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned unclean.
And…
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
When I was pastor at The Donelson Fellowship we had a wonderful Celebration Choir that sometimes ministered to us with a soul-stirring anthem, the words of which say:
I stand amazed in all of His glory.
One of my very favorite of the newer hymns is: His Grace Still Amazes Me.
Well, that was certainly true of the actual observers of His ministry in First Century Israel. It’s almost funny to picture the crowds in Jesus’ day. Everything He said left them slack-jawed and rubbing their eyes.
What Amazed The Crowds
They were amazed, first of all, at His teaching. I’m using the New International Translation, and I want you to notice in Matthew 7 the response He received to His first sermon: 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Imagine that kind of response from a person’s first sermon. Most of us are amazed to even get through our first sermon. I remember reading about Dr. E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary statesman. He was called to be a missionary when he was eight years old. He saw a picture of a big tiger standing beside a small Indian boy, and underneath was the caption, “Who will tell me about Jesus?” And Stanley Jones said, “I will.” But he was almost derailed a few years later when he stood to preach for the first time.
He said, “The little church was filled with my relatives and friends, all anxious that the young man should do well. I had prepared for three weeks, for I was to be God’s lawyer and argue His case well. I started on rather a high key and after a half dozen sentences used a word I had never used before and I have never used since: indifferentism. Whereupon a college girl smiled and put down her head.
“Her smiling so upset me that when I came back to the thread of my discourse it was gone. My mind was an absolute blank. I stood there clutching for something to say. Finally I blurted out ‘I am very sorry, but I have forgotten my sermon,’ and I started for my seat in shame and confusion.
“As I was about to sit down, the Inner Voice said: ‘Haven’t I done anything for you? If so, couldn’t you tell that?’ I responded to this suggestion and stepped down in front of the pulpit—I felt I didn’t belong behind it—and said, ‘Friends, I see I can’t preach, but you know what Christ has done for my life, how He has changed me, and though I cannot preach I shall be his witness the rest of my days.’
“At the close a youth came up to me and said he wanted what I had found. It was a mystery to me then, and it is a mystery to me now that, amid my failure that night, he still saw something he wanted. As he and I knelt together he found it. It marked a profound change in his life, and today he is a pastor, and his daughter is a missionary in Africa.”
It’s only a miracle of God that anyone is ever helped by our first sermon. I remember my first sermon. It was on the subject “The Golden Opportunities of Youth,” and the best thing about it is that it wasn’t taped (at least, I don’t think it was). I wouldn’t want to listen to it today.
But here the Carpenter of Nazareth leaves his woodworking shop, hangs up his apron and hammer, treks out to the lakeside, and his first public utterance is the greatest sermon the world had ever heard. The people were amazed and said, “He speaks as one having authority—as though He had written the Scriptures Himself, as though He were the author, not just the interpreter or commentator of the Word of God.”
A little later we read in Matthew 13, following His message on the Parables of the Kingdom: 53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
Later in Matthew 22, even our Lord’s critics were amazed at His teaching.: 15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
These are only a few examples. We could go into Mark, Luke, and John and find reference after reference to various groups being amazed at our Lord’s teaching ministry.
Now through the years, I’ve heard some of the finest English-speaking preachers in the world. When I was a student at Columbia Bible College for three years, the finest preachers from all denominations and parachurch groups from all over the world came to speak in chapel. I’ve traveled many miles to hear some of the world’s greatest preachers and teachers and speakers. I’ve listened to them on tape and on television and in person. I’ve been impressed; I’ve been blessed; I’ve been enriched; and sometimes, frankly, I’ve been disappointed. But I don’t think I have ever been caught up in the kind of mind-boggling, jaw-dropping, eye-rubbing amazement that we read about in the Gospels.
How I would have loved to have heard Christ in person! And yet, every day I have that opportunity, as I read His words in the Gospel and as the Holy Spirit serves as the amplifier. He teaches us as one having authority. He gives unto us the words of life. He tells us how heaven wants us to live. He sets before us the ways of life and death, of the narrow path and the broad road. He speaks with one having authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees. And we stand amazed at the life-changing power of His teaching ministry to our own hearts.
One day some time ago, I felt subdued and care-worn, and my energy level was low. But in my Bible reading I came to these words of Jesus in John 15: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. The Greek word for “complete” means: “To cram in, to level up, to supply, to fill, to perfect.” The Amplified Version says: I have told you these things that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be full measure and complete and overflowing.
If His joy within me is to be crammed in, overflowing—a full measure—why then, was I subdued, care-worn, and energy-less? Responding to that, I felt a surge of stamina, and immediately left my desk to tackle a project that had been neglected for too long. I found myself singing from Nehemiah 8:10: The joy of the Lord is my strength. Realizing that Jesus’ complete joy was within me made all the difference in my attitude.
The teachings of this uneducated itinerant, Jesus of Nazareth, have been having that kind of daily power and impact and authority for over twenty centuries. No wonder those who heard Him, even His enemies, were left mind-boggled and amazed.
Second, the people of our Lord’s day were amazed at His miracles. Look at Matthew 9:
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they replied.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you;” 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
And Matthew 15:
29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
And Mark 6:
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed.
The Greek word for “amazed” here is made up of a prefix that means “out of” and the Greek word meaning “to stand.” Literally, to stand outside of oneself. It’s very similar to our phrase, “he was beside himself,” and it has the idea of jumping out of your skin, to be astonished.
And after all, if Jesus of Nazareth is “God in Flesh Appearing” we would expect to be amazed, and the sad thing is that too many of us too easily lose the sense of wonder and amazement which is essential to genuine worship. We need to mean it with all our hearts when we say, “I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene.”
What Amazed Jesus
But now, I’d like to shift gears and share with you two occasions in the Gospels in which the tables were turned and it was Christ who was amazed. These are the only two times when I’ve been able to find this word applied to the Lord Jesus, and after all, you would expect it to take a lot to amaze the Omniscient One.
The first occurrence is in Luke 7:
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
A centurion was a Roman army officer. Israel at that time was under foreign occupation. The Romans had invaded and defeated the nation and were hated by the Israelites as a brutal occupying force. So this man was an exception. He had compassion on the Jewish people and had even given of his personal funds to build the synagogue in Capernaum, the foundation of which is still extant. He was also moved with pity when a servant of his contracted a deadly illness, and he sent word to Jesus: “Just say the word and I believe he will be healed.”
The simplicity and reality of his faith amazed Jesus, who said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
The second time Jesus was amazed is in Mark 6:
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Now, notice the lesson in these two passages. It is faith that astonishes Jesus, either its presence or its absence. In one instance, He found faith where it wasn’t expected. In the other, He didn’t find it where it should have been. Both cases amazed Him. Jesus isn’t impressed with status, wealth, power, or abilities, but He’s amazed when we trust Him as we should—and equally amazed when we don’t.
My father had a book in his library entitled None of These Diseases by Dr. S. I. McMillen. The doctor told of a time when he, his daughter, Linda, and his wife, Alice, were on a fishing trip in Canada. They arrived at their cabin around 5 p.m. on Saturday. To catch fish for their Sunday meals, Dr. McMillen and Linda rowed up the treacherous Matawan Rapids while Alice stayed at the cabin to unpack. Then she sat down to await their return. Eight o’clock came, but there was no sign of Dr. McMillen or Linda. It was lunacy to be on the Matawan Rapids past dark, and had I been Alice I would have begun to seriously worry. But instead, she was reminded by the Lord of a verse of Scripture they had been memorizing, Psalm 34:4: I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Alice sought the Lord in prayer and refused to give into panic.
There she sat alone in the dark, the lantern by her side. The rapids roared nearby. Nine o’clock came, and still no husband or daughter. She prayed and rested her trust in the Lord. At ten o’clock, she heard a voice. It was Linda: “Daddy sent me by land. He didn’t want to bring me down the rapids in the dark. The fish were slow in biting; but once they started, they bit like a house afire.”
Still more waiting followed. Ten-thirty came, and still no boat. Only the roaring of the river. Alice knew that at any moment her husband’s hat might float by, but the Lord had given her peace. In her faith, she had power over panic. At eleven o’clock, her husband showed up at the dock. Alice had lived in victory over panic, for she placed her faith in the promise God had given her in a verse she had just memorized, Psalm 34:4.
Jesus is wonderfully amazed when we trust Him like that, and equally amazed when we don’t. What’s bothering you today? Are you trusting the Lord Jesus? Are you resting in His promises? He is amazed when we trust Him despite the difficulties we’re facing. He is also amazed when we don’t trust Him despite the promises He has given us. Why not trust Him fully today. He’ll be amazed, and so will you.
While I was in Iceland recently out of nowhere an old Gospel song came clearly to mind. It was written by Edger Page, who served as a Union Soldier during the Civil War. Afterward he became a riverboat pilot. He was very involved in his Methodist denomination, and he occasionally wrote Gospel songs. He was very dedicated to attending the great Methodist conferences at Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
Simply trusting every day,
Trusting through a stormy way,
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus that is all.
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.