Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Exodus 20:7; Matthew 6:9 – “Jesus!”
With a new nurse I was recounting my back history which began at approximately 1 year old when I contracted an ailment resulting in not having enough muscle strength to sit up. The nurse exclaimed “Jesus!” I responded, “Yes Jesus has been good to me.” Sheepishly she said, “Yes He has.”
Now that is one way of misusing, or taking the Lord’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7), by not keeping the Son of our Father’s name holy and hallowed (Matthew 6:9). But why exclaim “Jesus”?
Sadly, I’ve even heard an atheist use Jesus’s name as basically an expletive. But this lady believed in Jesus. Although I would never vainly use Jesus name (or Lord, or God), there is a positive explanation. When she was shocked by something unexpected and negative, her brain reached for something or someone positive – the Great Physician, Jesus (Luke 5:31). Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (CSB).
While we shouldn’t use Jesus’s as a byword or empty exclamation, deep down maybe the practice is unknowingly a desperate prayer.
Comments