Verbose? Garrulous? Loquacious?
Jesus often seems to me to be quite wordy, especially when talking to his father in John 17. When I read this recently I asked myself "why" as I struggled reading and absorbing the sheer amount of words he was using. After all doesn't he say in Matthew 6:7 "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." Shouldn't he 'practice what he preaches?' After meditating on this for a while as my brain covered from John 17 I realised what he was doing, he was using all those words for the benefit of his disciples, so that they would hear his words and remember, after all he and the Father are one, so the Father already knows what he is thinking, let alone saying. It also brought me on to some of the drama that goes on when he performs a miracle, such as the healing of the man born blind in John 9, when he spits and makes mud to put on the mans eyes. I believe that this poultice of saliva and mud isn't necessary to heal the man, rather its to make the act even more memorable to those around him. The same goes for those of us who read the word, or teach and preach the word, everything that Jesus does it to help us hear, to help us understand, to give us the opportunity to turn to him, his truth, his light, and his salvation.
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