Jesus and March Madness

So I have had a blog half written for several weeks now, but can't seem to finish it.  It's about how much of the future did Christ know. This whole thought process came about when I was enjoying some BW3's hamburgers and watching March Madness with some friends. At first, I thought I could do it justice in a written blog, but after doing more and more research I'm not sure I can. I'm not some huge systematic theology professor that can analyze ever angle of it and write with the expression and precision that is needed to breach such a subject. Maybe someday that blog will be written, but for now it'll remain as a draft on my computer, until I can bring it the full research I need to do.

However, I still did want to write about Jesus and knowing the future. I've been reading in the gospels recently and see many times where Christ really does know the future. I'm not going to approach whether or not he knew while he was on Earth that Adam Daulton would be born in 1983 or that I would eat Lucky Charms and drink a Chai Tea this morning, but I do want to point out he knew what was coming for himself and what he had to face.

Let's take just one example from scripture in Mark 8:31, "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." Jesus was teaching the disciples about what had to happen, he would be rejected by the spiritual leaders of the day, a pretty big thing for a Jew whose religion is so tied up into his ethnicity, and then be killed! He knew that he would suffer, he even asked the Lord for a different way in Gethsemane to go about saving the world. He knew that a sacrifice had to be made, in order for you and I to have the opportunity to be saved, and not only did he know that, but he had the choice to not go through with it. The good news is this though, he knew he would conquer death, he would rise again, and thus defeating death allow us that same opportunity of a new life in him!

So, Christ did exactly what he knew had to be done, and at the same time, he did exactly what he knew would be done. Did Jesus know that March Madness 2012 would happen? I still am not sure one way or the other. However, I'm glad that question came up on that Friday afternoon. It's given me a lot to think about. Sometimes our lunch conversations are stupid and ridiculous, but sometimes they are deep and important. Now to begin work on my presentation about marshmallows and their role in the Spanish Inquisition....