It was about a year ago now that I read through the Gospel of Matthew with my wife, Jessie, and our good friends, John and Elayna, on the Bible App. Before I started, I decided I wanted to keep a tally:

How many times does Jesus first do something to/with/for someone and how many times does someone first do something to/with/for Jesus?

For example, when Jesus and his disciples get to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends his disciples out, two by two, to the nearby village (Matthew 21). Jesus did the first thing to them in this engagement. On the other hand, when the rich man comes to Jesus asks him, “Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?” this man is the initiator of this interaction (Matthew 19). Therefore, he does the first thing to Jesus in the interaction, or Jesus received the action.

(As a sidebar, if you haven’t read a Gospel narrative this way before, I highly encourage it. This exercise caused me to slow down while reading and better enter the stories. I had to pay close attention to who was who in the interactions and I noticed I really became aware of the verbs used.)

So, what were the results? I lost the exact data (guess I’ll need to do this again!), but it turns out that someone first did something to Jesus about 15 more times than Jesus first did something to someone else in the Gospel of Matthew.

Question: If you suddenly became God, yet still human (still mortal), how often would let other people do other things to you and how often would you start acting and using your power and influence?

I don’t know about you, but I think my tally would be a little more weighted towards me first doing things to/with/for others. How can I start trying to solve all the world’s problems as quickly as possible? I can heal people? How many can I heal today?! I have the wisdom and power to speak directly into people’s lives and hearts? Let’s start door-knocking! Why wait for people to come to me? The whole world is ultimately mine and I have power over it? Let’s get water, sanitary services, and sustainable food resources in every village, town and city! And certainly, I’m going to live as long as I can so I can do as much as I can!

But Jesus did things differently. He entered the world as a helpless baby. He was born in a barn to an unmarried couple, visited by Iranians with strange gifts, and he was a refugee in Egypt when the local king sought to kill him and any other baby under the age of 2. He had no physical home when he was older, so no place to invite someone over for dinner, no place to offer shelter to someone in danger or sick or hurting. He even struggled to get peace and quiet when he woke up early to pray! And he spent a TON of time with 12 people, who had all kinds of ridiculous questions and trust issues and shortcomings (like me). And then he died at the ripe age of 33, as a result of an unjust trial and a brutal execution system.

Why? Why is this the life of the King of the Universe who willingly entered this world? Why would he let people do so much to him?

Honestly, I don’t have an answer. It humbles me every time.

Jesus is the perfect embodiment of love. His love looks like receiving others, receiving pain, receiving honest pleas and wicked lies, receiving the poor and the powerful. And ultimately, his love looks like receiving betrayal, denial, false trial, mockery, beating, nails, sour wine, death, and most painfully- the abandonment of his Father.

While there is so much to be said about how this could inform and influence our everyday lives, today isn’t for that. Today, Jesus is dead in the tomb. As a result of many people doing many things to Jesus, he is lifeless. He could have lived longer. He could have done more. Today, his body is cold, and we’re left hopelessly wondering, “why would he let this happen to him?“

Sacrificial Lamb artwork by Josefa de Ayala (Portuguese, ca. 1630-1684)