We were scheduled to have a Crazy Hat night at our AWANA Kids club and I was thinking about the bible lesson I would do....what can the crazy hats cause us to think about or help us to remember?
And a line from the song Praise Him! Praise Him! came to mind....
"Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!"
How about the many "hats" of Jesus!?
from a baby "bonnet"
carpenter
student
teacher
prophet
priest
king
to a sacrifice/ransom
What "hat" each persona wore and what implications that has on our lives, intrigued me.
He came as a baby, and I don't think they put bonnets on babies or even hats as we do now,
and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:7
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:41-51
He was an obedient, good Son, but He was also, it seems, keenly aware of His true Father and what was most important!
There is a verse that says He is the son of a carpenter and in those days the father taught the son his trade. Also, in another verse it is translated "Isn't this the carpenter?" meaning Jesus.
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” Matthew 12:55-56
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?” Mark 6:3
So I/we can draw from that that He worked with His hands, used the tools of the trade. I envision a band of cloth wrapped around the head, to keep sweat from stinging the eyes. The head gear of a man who works hard, knows how to accomplish a task, knows fine workmanship, and a good work ethic. Someone who can relate to our toils with our jobs and tasks.
We also saw from the "incident" at the temple earlier that He was a student,
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
In one article I read that Jesus was mentioned as a teacher in the Gospels 39 times!
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23
Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." John 7:14-17
Jesus knew He was to teach others, but, more importantly He knew where His teaching came from, He always pointed to the Father. That is why He was here....to point us to the Father
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:11-13
We should take every opportunity to put on the "teacher's hat" and point others to Christ, and God. Teach them what we know about the love God has for every one of us!
Now the 3 that are in the song:
Prophet and Priest and King
These are three main offices mentioned in the Old Testament and Jesus fulfills all 3, simultaneously!
A prophet brought God's word to the people by: proclaiming the Truth and/or revealing God's plan. (gotquestions.org)
The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:11
He was called the High Priest. In the Old Testament the priest was the mediator between the people and God.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 3:14-16
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt. [Zechariah 9:9] John 12:13-15
But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9
king of kings and lord of lords.
King of Kings invokes the image of being seated on a throne, adorned with a crown,
But to me the most significant crown Jesus wore, the one that gave Him that place beside God the Father, was the crown of thorns.
Sacrifice/Ransom
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe John 19:2
The crown that caused pain, left scars. This Crown impacts me most
because the pain and scars were for me, should have been mine!
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:23-35
We can never wear the hats of a Prophet, Priest or King like Jesus did....but
we CAN proclaim God's word and truth to the people, show them God's plan for all people through
Jesus Christ, as it is written in the Bible
We CAN be the one who prays for the lost and dying world
we CAN love as Christ loves; sacrificially,
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13
with compassion
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Mark 6:34
(this is where Jesus fed the 5,000. Not only compassion for their spiritual condition but for their physical as well! Oh, that we could do the same!)
and mercy
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:34-43
No matter what other "hats" you wear through-out your life, through-out your day.....taking on the "hats" that Jesus wore means that we are trying to live a righteous life, a Christ-like life!
AND I know Jesus wore many more "hats", so to speak; Son, Friend, Bride-groom....that will have to be another blog!
I feel this verse says it very well and covers most of what I was trying to say:
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The song. Praise Him! Praise Him! By Fannie Crosby