Posted on 11/23/2016 7:05:18 AM PST by Salvation
If we could travel back in time to 30 A.D. and meet the Lord Jesus as He carried forth His public ministry, we might be quite surprised by what we saw. I say this because many of us are heirs to a rather filtered description of Him that is both Western and modern.
Most picture Jesus as fair-skinned and slender, with long, straight hair and a gentle beard. This physical reimagining of Him began rather early, gathered steam during the Renaissance, and has come to our day. I will not dwell here on His physical traits in this post, as I have written in detail on them elsewhere: What Did Jesus Look Like?.
As for His mannerisms, most imagine Jesus as gentle, kind, soft-spoken (except to mean people like the Pharisees), and “loving” in the modern sense. Images of him welcoming children, being the Good Shepherd, speaking of the lilies of the field, and forgiving the woman caught in adultery (but not the part when He tells her to stop sinning), predominate. Many modern people default to or strongly emphasize these images (rather than consulting the fuller text of Scripture) in interpreting Jesus. For many, the preferred images overrule the Sacred text, no matter how voluminous those balancing texts might be.
And thus if the Church, or a priest, or any Christian says anything that seems “hard” to modern ears, many will retort that Jesus is love and would never talk like this. Some years ago, after preaching a sermon on Hell and the need to be prepared for judgment, a woman in the parish I was visiting said this to me: “I didn’t hear the Jesus I know in your words today.” I replied that I was quoting Jesus Himself (the gospel of that Sunday was about the narrow road to salvation and the wide road to Hell). She was not fazed, and simply replied, “I know He never said that.” Her personal image of Jesus overruled even the sacred text. This is common today.
This is why I think the real Jesus, as described in Scripture, would surprise many modern people.
Surprise #1: His physical vigor and stamina
A mere consultation of the map reveals an enormous and diverse terrain where Jesus, His family, and His apostles routinely walked. Each year, Jesus journeyed on foot approximately 70 miles south to Jerusalem and then back again. His daily journeys took Him throughout the whole of Galilee and as far as 35 miles to the north (Tyre, Sidon, Caesarea Philippi). The terrain in the area was difficult, hilly (even mountainous) areas alternating between fertile lands and deserts within mere miles.
Jesus climbed the hills around the Sea of Galilee and mountains as high as Tabor. He, His family, and His followers often trod long journeys of many days. Travels could be dangerous because brigands and thieves lay in wait for opportune moments. The availability of lodging was unpredictable and many nights had to be spent out in the elements.
In His final journey to Jerusalem, Jesus took the desert route that went through Jericho. It is a howling desert that descends more than 800 feet below sea level. His climb to Jerusalem (more than 2500 feet above sea level) was more than 3000 feet up. Despite this difficult journey, He was the guest that very evening at the house of Martha and Mary, where He was anointed by Mary with costly nard.
Most moderns know little of such vigor and stamina. Many of us become winded by a mere hill; the thought of walking 70 miles would seem almost impossible to us. Those who go to the Holy Land today and follow the paths of Jesus usually do so in air-conditioned buses and complain of the steep hills that must be climbed on foot in Nazareth, Ein Karem, and Jerusalem.
These were hardy people, not the slight figures that modern artists often depict. It does not mean that they were extremely muscular, but they were used to hard physical work, long walks, and the sorts of hardships that would discourage many of us.
Surprise #2: His loud and challenging preaching
In those days there were no microphones or amplification of any kind. Preachers of that time did not (could not) use a gentle, suggestive tone. They had to shout out their message. Town criers were called such for a reason. Even indoors an elevated tone was required because crowded rooms muffle sound.
Jesus often preached outdoors, sometimes to crowds of thousands. Consider again His stamina and that such sermons were more of a shout than a mere discourse or exhortation. This would likely be challenging to us who are used to the more discussion-like quality of the preaching in the last hundred years.
A number of years ago I gave a talk on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony to a large church gathering. For some reason the public address system was not working. Now I have a loud voice, but projecting it in such a large venue required a near shout. I tried to mitigate that by interspersing humor and other disarming methods, but about half of the audience indicated (on the evaluation forms they filled out) that I seemed angry or harsh. I was certainly not angry, and although the message of traditional marriage is challenging to modern notions, the emphasis was that grace assists fidelity and the forgiveness that is necessary for lifelong love.
A further surprising note on Jesus’ preaching is that he preached while seated. The sacred text affirms this tradition in many places. All the ancient rabbis preached while seated, it was a sign of authority.
Surprise #3: His uncompromising stance
Jesus was in the mode of the prophets, and the prophets were never ones to soft-pedal, compromise, or be vague. Any analysis of Jesus’ true message (not the selective and filtered modern version) shows that He made expansive, uncompromising demands on any who would be His disciples. We must repent and believe His Gospel. We must clearly accept that He is the only light, the only truth, and the only Son to the Father. We are to love no one and nothing more than we love Him. This includes our very family as well as the things most essential to our physical survival, such as career and livelihood. If we do not do this, then we are not worthy of Him. We must take up our cross daily. We must be willing to suffer even unto death for Him and what He teaches. It is not enough to love our neighbor; we must love our enemy. It is not enough to avoid adultery; we must have a comprehensive sexual purity that excludes all forms of sexual activity outside of biblical marriage, even impure thoughts. We must forgive others who have hurt us or else the Father will not forgive us.
Time and time again, the real Jesus warned of Hell and the necessity to be sober and serious about judgment. Jesus was not some angry preacher. Jesus, who loves us, warned that many would be unable and unwilling to enter Heaven on its terms; few would take the narrow road of the cross. Not all who say, “Lord! Lord!” will enter heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father. Many will hear from Him, “I know you not. I know not from whence you come. Depart from me.”
There is no compromise, no third way. We cannot serve two masters, God and mammon. A friend of the world is an enemy to God. He would say that no one who sets his hand to the plow and keeps looking back is fit for the reign of God. To our excuses and pleas for time in “getting our act together,” He might say, “Let the dead bury their dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom!”
There is little we can call gentle or soft in the mainstream of Jesus’ preaching. Though He invited His disciples to discover Him as the true shepherd, the true lover of our souls, who can give us the true Bread for which we hunger and lasting water to quench our thirst, He wants us carrying our cross, not reclining on our couch. Jesus healed many, but He insisted on faith being operative prior to performing miracles.
Jesus’ plan for us involves deep paradox; He challenges our every expectation. He does not apologize for offending our notions. He declared that if anyone was ashamed of Him and His teachings, then He would be ashamed of that person on the Day of Judgment. There is to be no compromise with the wisdom of the world.
All of this, though recorded clearly and consistently in the biblical record, is conveniently forgotten by. Most modern people prefer nuance and/or euphemisms; they prefer a suggestive and inviting tone. But Jesus, like the prophets of the day, combined a searing judgment on worldly ways with an uncompromising insistence that we choose sides.
Surprise #4: His urgency
Jesus had a determination that a lot of us would interpret as a kind of inflexibility. We like to discuss things; we celebrate collaboration and team work.
Jesus doesn’t fit in this box at all. He knew exactly what He wanted to do. He sent missionaries ahead of Him into every town and village. He accepted no correction from those objected to His course or to the fact that He ate with sinners. When the crowds objected to Jesus’ teachings (such as His teaching on the Eucharist at Capernaum), He did not reconsider His words or go out and hire a public relations firm to improve His image. He did not conduct focus groups to test out His words and ideas. No, Jesus doubled down on disputed teachings and then asked His disciples if they were going to desert Him. He had an urgent mission to convey the truth, not debate it at length with detractors.
Jesus was on the move and urgently pursued His task. He told His disciples that He must work while it was still day because the darkness was coming when work would cease. In his final journey to Jerusalem, it was said that Jesus “set His face like flint,” an expression that conveys firm resolve. He set out on the journey, fully knowing (and announcing) that He would suffer at the hands of men, die, and rise.
Jesus’ own apostles balked and resisted, wondering why He would go there knowing that the leaders sought to kill Him. When Peter tried to dissuade Him, Jesus turned to him angrily, challenged his worldly thinking, and called him Satan.
No, Jesus would not turn back. At one point, He rebuked the weak faith of the Apostles, saying, “How much longer must I tolerate you?!” He also warned, “He who does not gather with me scatters.”
So Jesus was urgent and unstoppable. Meanwhile, His apostles vacillated between resistance to the looming danger, denial, and avoidance. More than once, the sacred text indicates that they were afraid to ask Him any more questions.
Nothing would stop Jesus. Even at the Last Supper, as He arose to go forth to His Passion, Jesus said, “The world must know that I love the Father and that He sent me. Arise. Let us go hence.”
Only briefly (in the garden) did Jesus express even the slightest doubt. Quickly it was resolved: whatever the Father wanted would receive His assent. We are saved by the human decision of a divine person.
Why this urgency? It was to save us! “What should I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this hour that I came into the world” (John 12:27).
I am convinced that all of this urgency would surprise us. We are more comfortable with a Jesus who wandered about blessing people, telling stories, and who only at the very end fell into trouble. Nothing could be further from the recorded history of the sacred text. Knowing everything that would take place, Jesus set out manfully to His goal and would allow nothing to stop or sidetrack Him. This was His Father’s will and He was urgent.
Yes, I suspect that most of us would be surprised if we encountered Jesus back around the year 30 A.D. For those who have not internalized the biblical texts and have substituted a modern image far removed from the recorded truth, Jesus might seem overbearing and even impatient. They would see Jesus speaking broadly—even bluntly—in the mode of the prophets. Would there be nothing of the gentle Jesus that so many prefer? Of course there would, but not in the exclusive amount that many moderns prefer.
Perhaps I do well to finish with the words of Ross Douthat, who in his book Bad Religion, summarizes this well:
Christianity is a paradoxical religion because the Jew of Nazareth is a paradoxical character. No figure in history or fiction contains as many multitudes as the New Testament’s Jesus. He’s a celibate ascetic who enjoys dining with publicans and changing water into wine at weddings. He’s an apocalyptic prophet one moment, a [careful and] wise ethicist the next. … He promises to set [spouses against one another and] parents against children, and then disallows divorce; he consorts with prostitutes while denouncing even lustful thoughts. … He can be egalitarian and hierarchical, gentle and impatient, extraordinarily charitable and extraordinarily judgmental. He sets impossible standards and then forgives the worst of sinners. He blesses the peacemakers and then promises that he’s brought not peace but the sword. He’s superhuman one moment; the next he’s weeping.
The boast of Christian orthodoxy, as codified by the councils of the early Church and expounded in the Creeds, has always been its fidelity to the whole of Jesus. … [Where heresy says which one] Both, says orthodoxy …. The goal of the great heresies, on the other hand, has often been to extract from the tensions of the gospel narratives a more consistent, streamlined, and noncontradictory Jesus [1].
Monsignor Pope Ping!
It is interesting how artistic renderings over the centuries put their own spin on this topic.
For example, most artistic representations of the Virgin Mary that you see show her either with Nordic features, or being very Italian looking.
I was struck by a recent statue that depicted her looking like a young Jewish girl....much like she must have actually looked.
WWJD?
Flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is an option.
How about rebuke 2nd Commandment violations?
The Second Commandment
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:4-6
“Broad and very comprehensive in its wording, the second commandment forbids the worship of the true God through icons, images, or other man-made symbolisms. Many of the heathen nations around Israel claimed that their images were mere figures or symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower man’s conception of God. The mind, turned away from the infinite perfection of Jehovah, would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator. And as his conceptions of God were lowered, man’s worship of God—his view of God—would be lowered as well. Anytime we endeavor to represent God, by any devising of our imagination, we lower our concept of the Deity. Anything that we allow to take His place in our lives—be it our job, our bank account, our possessions, our family—of that thing we are making an idol. God calls for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. In the second commandment we find principles of worship acceptable to God.”
http://godsholylaw.com/commandments/2.cfm
Once again Msgr Charles Pope nails another epistle to the electronic door for all to see an important aspect of the Gospel!
“When the crowds objected to Jesus’ teachings (such as His teaching on the Eucharist at Capernaum), He did not reconsider His words or go out and hire a public relations firm to improve His image. He did not conduct focus groups to test out His words and ideas. No, Jesus doubled down on disputed teachings and then asked His disciples if they were going to desert Him. He had an urgent mission to convey the truth, not debate it at length with detractors.”
I like this. I have often preached to others about the image, personality and character of Jesus is misrepresented.
Jesus was a VERY strong leader (in human terms). He had passion, conviction and was decisive. He didn’t waffle or waiver. He often, in fact usually, created turmoil and angst for Authorities (usually within the Jewish Community and religious leaders. AND he was very compassionate, understanding, forgiving and gentle. He was able to earn followers and loyalty even after being direct about what that loyalty and commitment would mean for them. People rallied around him. Many wanted him to be a king and take on the Romans.
Think of the great leaders in history (both good and bad). Churchill, Reagan, Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, even Hitler. They had charisma and charm. But they were bold and unwavering. AND they had the confidence of their followers because they preached about their love and loyalty to their followers. God loves you and I love you and you need to love each other in this way was as much as an order as it was a message. And it was well received by the people of Jesus.
King David was a ginger. (I Samuel 16:12)
Agreed. A meek, mild-mannered peacenick would not have had the Pharisees and officials in Rome quaking in their boots.
Let not your heart be troubled! In the “Parable of the Mustard Seed”, Jesus told us this would happen! He said the Kingdom of God would grow to the point where the “Birds of the Air” would nest in its branches. In explanation for the “Parable of the Sower”, He told us that the “Birds” were agents of Satan.
So there is a little Satanic infestation in the Catholic Church. So what? Msgr Pope consistently cuts through the bird droppings, so to speak, and delivers the True Gospel. Just say hallelujah and amen!
Excellent once again. Thanks for affording Msgr Pope a wider audience!
I often remind people that "Turn the other Cheek" was about forgiveness and not holding a hateful grudge. But "Anyone that would sin against a child should have a millstone cast around their neck and be thrown into the see." was about compassion. This confuses them. Was Jesus advocating the death penalty? He was silent on the punishment for crimes on the body. He didn't preach against stoning or crucifixion. He preached about the sprit; repentance, forgiveness, etc.
I don't believe Jesus would even comment about saving lives through justice. He was and is about "SAVING SOULS". And, personally, this is where I believe my own Catholic Church falters and has lost its way. Our "Social Justice" mission in the Catholic Church has overwhelmed and led us away from the original intent and mission of the church (My opinion & I am a practicing Catholic). Today, our own Pope seems to advocate salvation through forced government participation. How does advocating social and government action save the souls of God's people. Reducing their free will to participate in some 3rd party, farmed out sacrifice in the way of taxes and redistribution is not what God intended. Nobody is going to heaven simply by paying more taxes.
Apologies for the rant....
I’ve been a Christian since I was seven years old and I’m now 61. I am in no way (please) comparing Him to Trump, but I saw a few things during the campaign that made me realize that the same spirit that was around then is still around today. He didn’t draw those crowds because he was a milquetoast. The scripture says the common people heard him gladly. He fought against the corrupt religious leaders who were leading people the wrong way, which is why they fought against him so hard. He spoke truth forcefully, without compromise, and he held rallies! Big rallies!
Again, please don’t anyone flame me saying that I’m comparing our Lord to Trump...I’m just saying that the conditions and situations of the time seem to mirror what I’ve been seeing during this election season.
Jesus was a strong, uncompromising man of deep compassion. He understood the common working people and He was deeply loved and had a huge following.
Someone's personal opinion. I thought you guys were against adding manmade tradition to the Word of God, but here you go and do it. In reality, of course, you do it all the time.
BTW, the true God, in the same books where the Decalogue is reported, commanded that the Ark of the Covenant be surmounted by two gilded angels, and that the bronze laver be upheld by twelve sculpted oxen.
The Hebrew, BTW, explicitly condemns the making of idols, not generically "carved images" ... or printed images, or television images, or any other kind of image.
Made me want to jump up and holler, “YEAH!!!” (fist pump...)
The show with “Father Albert” where Ann Coulter argued against single mothers (discussed in another thread) is a perfect example of what being a truth teller gets you: SCORN.
Ann was absolutely truthful but the host and the audience basically rose as one to “stone her” with humiliation and contempt. Uncomfortable to watch towards the end.
Contrast this with the cotton candy reception many famous preachers get from their cottage industry of books, tapes and videos. They get fawned over, Ann gets regularly jeered and mocked. Hmmm.
No, I’m afraid he does not deliver the true gospel. He delivers a damning gospel. The Bible makes it utterly clear, Christ plus anything is damning. As has been said, salvation is by faith alone, but that faith will never be alone.
Unmasking the False Gospel
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1010665821
The Gospel Defined and Discerned
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=81901181950
It’s a tad strange what Msgr Pope does on his “Images” video, but -— on second or third thought, that’s OK.
I think that’s rather the point: Jesus is strange Because He’s God, and God will always strike us as weird: disturbingly outside of our expected categories.
I totally agree with you! YHWH often book marks ages or nations. Start The United States of America with an obviously Providential President, and end with an obviously Providential President!
The Bible, in its original languages, is the revealed Word of YHWH, the Ain Sof, the Creator of the Universe. The entire Word established the boundary conditions for all significant events in the Universe from beginning to end.
Everyone has free will until they bump up against a boundary condition that involves them. Then YHWH will “harden your heart” and you are stuck with your decision. In Quantum Mechanics it is called “spontaneous symmetry breaking” that collapses a superposition of states into one observed state.
We are very near the end of the Bible. The Revelation 12:1-2 great sign in the heavens will happen September 23-24, 2017. There is strong evidence that the matching verses, 12:5-6 mean that the people who believe in the Messiah’s First Coming, and his imminent return, will be “caught up to God and His Throne” and that the people who believe in the Promise, but missed Him the first time will be protected for 1260 days, from all Hell breaking out on Earth.
If you study the Word, you will find out that “nations” are very important to YHWH, and trying to unite all people in one government/religion, is despised by YHWH. It started with the Tower of Babel, so when the EU made their headquarters to look like a painting of the Tower of Babel, you know they are in trouble.
The United States of America was founded as a nation “ruled by God”, which is what Israel means. Many of the founders thought of it as a “New Israel”. Jonathan Cahn, has explored this extensively, and the events surrounding the 9/11 attack on the USA are compelling, and seem to identify the USA with the Ten Tribes of Israel that were dispersed by the Assyrians.
It is undeniable that decedents of Judah, Benjamin, and remnants of Levi and the ten other tribes that went into the Babylonian Captivity, are moving back into the original Promised Land (The Modern State of Israel). But only YHWH knows where the rest of those Ten Tribes ended up.
So that brings us to what can be happening here in the United States of America in the last year of the Age of Grace, the Church Age, the period between the First and Second Coming, or the two days between the final dispersion of the Jews and their regathering in Israel. It doesn’t matter what you call it. It is here, now.
As the Word says will happen in the Last Days, almost all the organized churches have fallen away from the original Gospel, to one degree or another. That means that there are a lot of Lost Sheep out there to be gathered in before the final harvest.
So what has YHWH done? Well, in the rest of the world He is gathering them in the old fashion way, but allowing Lucifer to persecute the Hell out of the Christians. This really spreads the faith, as it did in the Days of the Apostles.
With the United States, all fat, dump and happy from His material blessing, and now under the governmental control of the Luciferian New World Order, and their fly attracting leaders, He needed a different approach.
His answer appears to be one Donald John (voice crying in the wilderness, get it?) Trump who appears to be a melding of Samson, Cyrus and Nehemiah.
Read Judges 13-16 and then look at the characteristics Donald Trump shares with Samson: Doesn’t drink, ever; has really wild hair; is really harsh if you treat him badly or unfairly; ran around with a lot of foreign women.
You can read Isaiah 45 (FORTY FIVE! get it) to find out about Cyrus, a gentile who was God’s Instrument in punishing the Babylonians, and returning Judah back to Jerusalem.
Of course, Nehemiah was the one whom King Artaxerxes, sent back to Jerusalem to actually BUILD THE WALL (get it?) and after that to bust up the corrupt establishment and restore the Law of Moses to the land. Read the whole book of Nehemiah and think of how it could be paralleled in the first few months of a Trump Administration.
Next stop is the inauguration which will take place when Donald J. Trump is 70 years, 7 months, and 7 days old in the Hebrew year 5777! You can’t make this stuff up because God already did!
So, I think that if we all listen closely to what the Holy Spirit is telling each us Members of the Body of Christ to do, which may include working hard and praying for Donald Trump, then I think we get a Nehemiah period before we are harvested and the Luciferian New World Order folks get their wish to be rid of us, and to have the world all to themselves.
Pretty right on I think.
One thing is, he sure didn’t wear clerical garb and all the high-fallootin’ stuff that priests, bishops and the Pope wear - and would have been aghast at any suggestion to do so.
Priestly garb is just a more modern version of what the high priest and Pharisee’s wore - the one’s who arranged and called for Jesus death......
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