Jesus never seems to address the issue at hand

Ever notice this, reading through the Gospels?

Take for instance, John 11.  Jesus tells his disciples that they are going to travel back to Judea.  Are you sure that’s a good idea, they ask.  After all, people there are actively trying to kill you.

To this Jesus replies, there are twelve hours in the day.  If you walk in the day you won’t trip, but those who walk at night will trip, because they don’t have the light in them.

What?

It’s like this over and over again in the Gospels.

The reason Jesus didn’t address the issue of those trying to kill him is because it wasn’t important. He was God in the flesh.  He created life and conquered death.

Jesus instead used this instance to be a teaching time.  He did not want his disciples to worry about the things he had already handled.  Instead he wanted them to think about the things he was thinking about.  The important things.  In a crescendo moment in one of Paul’s letters, Paul writes, what can possibly be said in response to this: if God is for us, who can be against us?

This is the attitude Jesus is trying to teach his followers.

This attitude requires an entire value-shift.  It’s a shift away from taking care of myself, to trusting that I will be taken care of.

That kind of thinking brings liberty.

That’s what Jesus wants for his followers.