The more I read the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the more I am convinced we have a woefully incomplete idea of Jesus. And the missing parts of Jesus are not for a lack of texts! So my question then becomes, are we silencing the voice of the Holy Spirit who may be prompting people to act in a Biblically appropriate way because our idea of Jesus makes no room for what the Holy Spirit is saying?
Let’s take for example the list of names that Jesus used to describe many of the religious leaders of His day. This is from the website bible.org who gives the following list: blind guides, fools, whited sepulchers, generations of vipers, serpents, hypocrites, and graves which appear not. Now we might read these and think those names are fairly benign. But put them in their proper cultural context. If kids were found playing the game “Jesus said” in the courtyard and their mothers overheard these names, there would have been some mouths being washed out with soap! Specifically, the reference to vipers and serpents is a direct comparison to the serpent of Genesis three which was used by Satan to tempt humanity into the original sin. Jesus was quite the name caller in His three years of public ministry. (the other names are an interesting study for why they were so egregious)
Jesus also had a recurring practice of preaching against people who were in the crowd listening to His sermons and parables. Just yesterday in my Bible reading plan I came across Matthew 21:45 that reads, “When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they understood He was speaking about them.” Jesus was aggressive. Jesus was intense. Jesus’ life was also sinless. So what do we do with these examples of Jesus?
Too many people see kindness as the anchor virtue of Jesus. That is wrong, in my opinion. I believe love is the anchor virtue in the character of Christ. And 1 Corinthians 13 is not the only explanation of love given to us in Scripture. If it were, then we would be left with a Jesus who was frequently “unloving” according to our limited view of love. I am becoming more and more convinced as I do this study and write this blog that wrath is one aspect of perfect love.
The holiness of God must not be separate from the love of God. If we make this distinction, we risk compartmentalizing God in a way that I don’t believe is Scriptural. What do we do with verses like Luke 19:27 where Jesus concludes a parable we all believe is about Him being the Messiah and the King of Kings…and the conclusion is that all those who reject His authority are slaughtered in His presence. Is this Jesus being unloving?
The two moments that both started and ended Jesus public ministry was turning over the tables in the temple. He went there with destruction in mind the first time. I’m of the school of thought He didn’t buy the whip He used there, He carried it with Him that day. The Temple did not accept foreign money so the money had to be exchanged before there could be an offering, at a fee of course. Likewise, animal sacrifices were a required part of worship and people traveling for long distances did not often bring those animals with them, knowing they could purchase them there. It’s like being in an airport in modern times. Once you pass through security, the prices are exorbitant because you have no other option. Jesus doesn’t like vulnerable people being taken advantage of…one might say it gets His ire up, the wrathful side of His love.
I think Jesus is always loving which brings us back to the opening thought. Have we been working with an incomplete idea of Jesus? Have we become Jeffersonian in our portrayal of Jesus? Have we cut out the aspects of Jesus that make us uncomfortable and only pasted in the character traits that suit our cultural norms?
As I have shared before in this blog series, I am not presenting many conclusions here. I am inviting you on this journey of discovery with me. My hope is in time our understanding of Jesus will be more complete, more textually sound and less influenced by cultural norms. I hope people that feel voiceless feel empowered. I hope people who have felt unseen feel seen. I hope people, especially women, who have suffered at the hands of spiritual leaders who suppressed those women’s wrathful emotions in their pursuit of justice, feel justified.
My hope is that at the end of this series, people might have a better Biblical vocabulary to talk about how they are feeling. My hope is for people to feel a connection to Jesus that was not present before because no one ever told them about this side of Jesus. My hope is for people to have a more complete understanding of Scripture. So that as we step into James 1:22-25 and allow Scripture to examine our hearts, we will be willing to both repent of our mistakes and also represent Jesus, ambassadors for Christ, more fully to our world.