Ever hear of the phrase “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild?” In recent generations, the common image of Jesus has been that of a gentle teacher showing a gentle way in an aggressive world. We are inundated with the philosophy that we are to be non-aggressive in our Christian faith. The underlying assumption is that aggression is not compatible with Christian meekness. It is also not compatible with Christian humility. Isn’t aggression the result of people with anger issues? People whose lives are spiraling out of control, so they lash out? I’m here to say “Not Necessarily.” When we read Scripture, we do see a Jesus who “like the sheep before the shearers was silent.” Yet we also read that he flipped the tables in the temple courtyard and chased people with a whip. We read of him calling Peter the Devil and a Samaritan woman a female dog. Jesus’ interactions with people is complex. That is because Jesus isn’t an ideal or a philosophy. Jesus is a person, with a full range of emotions and a strong sense of right and wrong. So we have both gentle and harsh words coming from Jesus. Below, we’ll look at those.
Jesus’ Gentle Words
How many times to we read in the Gospels that “Jesus had compassion?” It seems like at every turn, Jesus is usurping the standard rule of law in order to meet people’s needs. Healing a blind man on the sabbath? Illegal. But he did it. Telling a lame man his sins are forgiven? Blasphemy. Yet he exercised his power to forgive sins by also saying “Get up and Walk.”
And we can’t forget about the story of the adulterous woman in John. Here, Jesus’ opponents caught a woman in the middle of adultery and dragged her in front of Jesus to get his take on the subject, knowing the law demanded her execution. Yet Jesus outwits them all with the simple phrase, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” They all left. Jesus turns to the woman, “Where are you accusers?” “There are none, my Lord.” “Neither do I condemn you. Now go and sin no more.”
We see a very clear pattern in all this. Those who were lost, needy, suffering, and trapped in their sins found inspiration in Jesus. They also found love, compassion, and power, accompanied by gentle words. Jesus was very gentle to those who either didn’t or couldn’t measure up to the standards of religious culture. After all, he was sent to the “Lost sheep of Israel” because “the sick need the physician, not the healthy.”
Yes, Jesus was gentle, meek and mild when it came to the disaffected, lost, deprived, and depraved. He interacted with them. Had dinner with them. He respected them as human beings and did it in the context of relationship.
Jesus’ Harsh Words
Yet we see Jesus also spoke very harsh words. He called a group of Pharisees a “Brood of Vipers.” He called Herod a “Fox.” He called many religious leaders “Hypocrites.” Once he even called them “sons of hell” and their followers “twice the sons of hell.”
But have you noticed to whom he was speaking? Those in authority. Those who should know better. Those who knew the ins and outs of the law. Those who failed by the standard of the law they knew, yet justified it to make everything ok. Jesus’ harshest words were spoken to the religious and political leaders of Israel. Those who had the authority and ability to help the disaffected, yet refused. Those who could help the poor, yet turned them out of their houses because they weren’t profitable. They knew the law and expected that to spare them the inconvenience of dealing with the dregs of society. They could sit in their synagogues and talk about how lowly the tax collectors are and how just and righteous they were because they knew how to wash their hands and how to eat the right foods. People who knew the law in head, yet refused to let it guide their hearts.
We May Just Have it Backwards
How do we match up to this in our own lives? In our practice of faith, where do we fall? Are we resolved to never use harsh words, ever?” Are we resolved to live a meek life that shies from confrontation and conflict, because that’s what we imagine Jesus doing? Or do we take up the standard and fight for our place in the culture by using our aggression against those agendas we find we are incompatible with? Which is more Christ-like? I’d say neither, because in the church, we have our targets reversed.
Jesus attacked the religious leaders for patting themselves in the back for their good deeds and clean living. Something that is easy to do when you simply don’t interact on a personal level with those who are different from you. It could be supposed that very few of Jesus’ opponents ever shared a drink or broke bread with a tax collector. Yet they flaunted their long robes and scripture boxes as symbols of how favored they were by God. So when Jesus broke bread with tax collectors, the leaders disdained him for his poor choice of company.
Where are we as Christians? Tax collectors aren’t near the stigma today as they were back then. What if we picked an equivalent people group. Let’s say girls who have had an abortion, or local democratic political organizers. What about an atheist, an agnostic, or a homosexual? I mention people in those groups because those seem to be the top targets many sermons zero in on as examples of what is wrong with our country.
Are we like Jesus when we sit in our bastions of safety and talk about how bad it is that someone has had an abortion, that they have same sex attraction, or don’t believe in God? Or does that sound more like Jesus’ opponents. Is there a place for moral instruction in the church? Absolutely! However, to follow Jesus’ model, moral instruction is built in the context of relationship. If we can’t respectfully interact on an individual level with someone who’s views are different than ours, then our morality isn’t built in the context of relationship. When we fear to interact with people who have different views, then we are operating out of fear, not love. Christianity was never designed to be isolated from society. “Come out from among them and be separate,” isn’t about secluding and building closed communities, like monasteries. The heart of that verse is about having a heavenly view of life, love, eternity, and relationships. It is about being a life-giving force in every interaction we have. We have freedom in Christ. That freedom is to include the unflappable ability to relate to everyone we interact with on a heart level and on a spiritual level. We can speak life to people wherever they are. Why? Because in the end, it’s not our job to save them. We are not their savior. What we are is a contact point between them and Jesus. Thus the scripture says “You are a holy people, a royal priesthood.” That’s what priests do, mediate between the human and the divine. That happens in the context of relationships–healthy, holy, respectful, loving relationships.
If we can’t bring ourselves to interact with people who are different than we are, then we have a practical problem with a very important scriptural truth. 1 John says “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” If we recoil in fear, disgust, or disdain from any human being just because of how they identify, then we are living the opposite: greater is he who is in the world than he who is in me.
What are your reflections regarding Jesus’ gentle and harsh words? Where are your struggles? What is your reaction to this post? Let us know in the comments.