You Don't Say? Really?

For NASA, space is still a high priority. - Dan Quayle

You don't say, Dan? Space a priority for NASA? For real? I never would have guessed.

No, I'm not picking on VPs in this blog. Although you have to love them. The press ate Quayle's lunch, but noboby even realizes that Joe Biden makes Quayle look scholarly. I mean, Biden is the one who said,

"Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word; jobs. J-O-B-S."


And who could forget this....

"Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya." --Joe Biden, to Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, who is in a wheelchair, Columbia, Missouri, Sept. 12, 2008

That's funny right there!

Listen, it would be easy to keep the quotes coming but that's not my aim here. What I really want to do is share some famous understatements in history and also look at the most dangerous one of all time. So here we go....

Understatement is one of the funniest forms of speech when used appropriately. Unfortunately, for Dan Quayle and many others, understatement comes too naturally and lands closer to stupidity rather than humor. This form of speech has been around forever. Just take a look...

Jesus had been with the disciples in Galilee. He had been teaching and ministering to the people. Alone with the disciples, He began to speak of His coming Kingdom. To exhibit the glory of which He spoke, Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain and was transfigured before them. Matthew 17:2 says, "His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light." To add to the spectacle, "Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him." (Matthew 17:3)
One can only imagine the scene. The glory of the Lord on display to the 3 disciples. What majesty! Our minds cannot fathom what was happening. Then Peter steps into history with the most amazing understatement of all time in Matthew 17:4..."Lord, it is good for us to be here." You don't say, Peter. Really?

So many times I have failed in the same way. You know, thinking that I could possibly add something to the moment with my words. Sometimes words ruin the occassion. In this glorious scene, Peter's words make for a tremendous understatement.

Next, we see Jesus taking a trip through Samaria in the gospel of John. He was leaving Judea and headed north and I love what the Bible says in John 4:4, "But He needed to go through Samaria."

Wow. Sidebar here ---To see the King of Kings choose a route because he has an appointment with a certain woman at a well shows Jesus' unmatched compassion for the lost. 'He needed to through Samaria.' Wow. -----Sidebar stop.

Many things can be learned from Jesus interaction with the woman at the well. But I want to skip down to John 4:17-19. Jesus has just offered the woman the living water that He possesses. She asks for the water and Jesus asks her to get her husband. Then we see John 4:17-18...

The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

To which the woman replies in grand understatement fashion.."Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." (John 4:19) You don't say. Really? A prophet? Jesus has just given her a complete error-free rundown of her life. Someone she had never met before knows all about her past and her present situation. Prophet? Yes! God in the flesh? Without a doubt!

Finally, this last understatement in the Scripture is seen in Matthew 21:12-15. It is the first Palm Sunday and Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. Some gather to welcome the King with palms branches and shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David." Upon entering the city, Jesus heads straight to the temple and confronts the wickedness in it. Boldness unlike any other! Upon entering the city, Jesus heads straight to the temple and heals the blind and the lame that came to Him. Compassion unlike any other!

These two qualities combine to enrage the leadership of Isreal. In fact, Matthew writes in the last part of 21:15, speaking of the chief priests and scribes....."they were indignant." Quite an understatement. Just how indignant were they? Enough to call for Jesus' life at the hands of the Romans in a few short days!

This all leads to me to the most dangerous understatement of all time. Occassionally as you talk to people about the Lord, you will hear something like, "Yeah, my relationship with the Lord is important." Really? You don't say? Not trying to be sarcastic here. But the word 'important' is not really sufficient in that regard. To say it in that way implies that there are other things in life that are comparable to your relationship with God. What else compares? Your job? Your family? Your education? What?

Let me be clear. Nothing is as important as your eternal destination. And your eternal destination is determined by your relationship to God. And your relationship to God is determined by what you do with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6. No understatement there.