Jesus’ Lists

Critics scoff at the idea of the inspired word of God. Progressives mock the Bible as outdated. Despite their protests, the Bible has withstood every challenge. When examined with an open heart, it bears the marks of divine authorship.

For example, look at the lists.

The Bible is full of lists. It lists commandments (Ex. 20:1-17), blessings and curses (Deut. 28), people (Num. 1; 26; Ezra 2; Neh. 7; Matt. 1:1-17), sins (Rom. 1:29-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; 1 Tim. 1:8-11), fruit (Gal. 5:22-23), graces (2 Pet. 1:5-8), and times (Ecc. 3:1-8).

Jesus himself was fond of lists. He listed apostles (Luke 6:12-16), sins (Mark 7:21-23), and beatitudes (Matt. 5:2-12).

I’m particularly fond of the list he gave Peter in Mark 10:29-30. Peter had been lamenting, or possibly boasting about, all that he and the other apostles had left to follow Jesus. The Lord responded by listing all the things they had left, followed by those things they had gained.

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

Yes, we may have to make sacrifices to follow Christ. Hardest of all is the loss of family. Jesus demands first place in our hearts, and sometimes that means he will come between us and our loved ones (Matt. 10:34-39).

But this does not mean that he is asking us to live as hermits in isolation. No, there is a far greater spiritual family to be found in following him! Notice the contrast between the singulars of a life without him and the plurals of a life with him. Without him, we have a “house”; with him, “houses.” Without him, most of us have “a mother”; but with him, “mothers.” Mothers and brothers and sisters and children and lands…a hundredfold!

Getting back to my earlier point about the inspiration of the Bible, notice the precision of this list.

First of all, conspicuously absent in the list of the things we may have to leave to follow Christ are husbands and wives. That is because it is never God's will for us to leave our spouse, even in the case of a mixed marriage. Paul says God wants married couples to stay together, even if they don't share the same faith (1 Cor. 7:12-16). While God allows divorce and remarriage on the grounds of fornication (Matt. 19:9), he hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). Just think, if Jesus had carelessly included “husbands and wives” in his list, he would have contradicted the Bible's teachings on marriage!

Also, consider the omission of “fathers” in the plural in the list of things we gained through Christ. We may have many fathers in an earthly sense, but there is only one Father in heaven. The truth of one God is at the center of biblical faith (Deut. 6:4-6; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6). If Jesus had fallen into a pattern of matching the plurals of life with him to the singulars of life without him, he would have made an embarrassing error in his teaching.

The Bible is always right. It never fails, even in the smallest details. What a refreshing reminder in a world that is so confused and lost!

Drew Kizer