Lord Jesus

Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

Luke 24:3

It may be just a curious piece of Bible trivia but it is interesting that although the title Lord Jesus is used 118 times in 115 verses, it appears only once in the gospels and that is only after the resurrection.

The realization that Jesus was Lord didn’t have its fullest impact until after He conquered sin, death, and hell. After that it was hard to say the name “Jesus” without owning Him as Lord.

When I was growing up, there were certain words that I never heard. I can’t ever remember my dad saying “Sunday.”  It was always “the Lord’s Day.”  I also can’t remember my mom ever referring to Jesus. He was always “the Lord Jesus.”

Mom slipped more quickly into Alzheimer’s after Dad passed away. The gracious lady who was known for saying “I love you” to all the attendants who cared for her in the nursing home eventually wasn’t able to recognize family or friends.  Dementia took away her sharp wit, so towards the end, Mom could say only three words: “Love,” “Lord Jesus,” and “potty.”

All the complexities of life were reduced to the bare basics: The emotional, the spiritual, and the physical. The thing that really impressed me in all of this, however, was that she called out “Lord Jesus” as if it were one word. Her simple mind got to the lowest common denominator and she could divide it no more.  In that, she taught me a great spiritual truth. Jesus is nothing if He isn’t Lord.