in more than all of them

If you watch interviews of friends or family of famous people, a lot of them say they knew so-and-so was going to be a star even when they were young -- that they had this quality about them. A colleague once told me what it was like to be in a room filled with senators and congressmen, all of them famous in their own right, but what it was like to see Arnold Schwarzenegger walk into the room and command attention. A sportswriter once noted that time seemed to stand still when Michael Jordan walked into this casino one night, and how in a city like Vegas filled with noise and lights and celebrities everywhere, MJ's presence was palpable.

When Jesus walked all over Israel teaching and preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand, the multitudes swarmed Him. So there was certainly a quality about Him that was engaging like nothing else. But I like how in Matt12, no matter how much attention was being shown Him by the crowds, it still wasn't enough; they still didn't know the magnitude of who He was. In v6, He says something greater than the temple was there. In v41, He says that something greater than Jonah was there. In v42, it's Solomon that He's greater than.

One of the things I love most about God is that, like an athlete with unlimited potential, He has no ceiling. Only in God's case the unlimited ceiling is fact and not hyperbole. In Christ, you see love like no other. In Christ, you see power like no other. In Christ, you see mercy like no other. In Christ, you see truth like no other. And the good news for folks who have been Christians for a long time, there is still so much more to learn about God -- that even in those faithful, decades-long walks, that something even greater than that is still there.