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Jesus is impolite. Deal with it.
We get a lot of lukewarm Christians who mostly agree with our teachings, yet accuse us of turning people away from Jesus by being too rude.
Here is someone who thought as they did, but is having a spiritual awakening as he realizes that, yes, Jesus was not honey-mouthed diplomat, but a straight-talking maverick who called a sinner a sinner:
Is Jesus Mean? by Patton Dodd
The Jesus I know, the Jesus I love, is uniformly kind, caring, sacrificial, wise, supernaturally powerful. I’ve read the gospels regularly for over a year now and have found this Jesus reliably present. But now, for some reason, as I turn the crinkling, red-and-black inked pages in the lighting booth, a new, sterner Jesus suddenly and forcefully comes into view. A Jesus who is unhelpful. Intentionally confusing. Rude.
When Jesus saw the crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said to Him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:18–22).
This is not the Jesus I know, not the Great Lover, the Provider of My Every Need. My Jesus is desperate to save souls. He is desirous of helping people receive His love. He is passionate for everybody, and He is so glad when we acknowledge that passion and dwell in it. He is happy when we are happy. But is the Jesus in these passages that same figure?
I am fine with Jesus being critical of His criticizers. He is hard on the Pharisees and Sadducees because they are legalists who want to control people. I cheer Jesus on as He chastises them and uses their own Scriptures against them. I even understand why he pledges to bring not peace but a sword to the earth. He says He has come to turn family members against one another, that households will be torn apart because of Him. I can appreciate this because I have seen it happen — friends who accept Jesus against their parents’ agnostic will, and such.
But Jesus’ harsh criticisms also reach into places I do not expect. After one parable, Jesus’ friend Peter asks for an explanation. “Are you still so dull?” Jesus snaps. Worse, Jesus appears to dishonor His own family. Once when someone tells Jesus that His mother and brothers are standing outside and waiting to see Him, Jesus replies, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” He suggests that His true family is “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 12:46–50). I see His point, but does He have to ignore His mom? And how does this fit with my understanding of a God who wants everyone to be a part of a loving family, a God who focuses on the family and wants us to do the same?
Turning more crinkly pages, I read — as if for the first time — the story of Jesus calling a Canaanite woman a dog. She cries out to Him to deliver her daughter of demonic possession. “Jesus did not answer a word,” says Matthew (15:23). The Great lover ignores her cries. The woman doesn’t let up, and finally, Jesus’ disciples beg Him to do something to shut her up. “Send her away,” they plead. “She keeps crying after us.” Jesus will have none of it. Why? Because the woman isn’t a Jew. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Even when the woman forces her way to Jesus, kneels at His feet, and cries, “Lord, help me!” Jesus is unmoved. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs,” He says.
No, not says. He mutters. He snipes. He sneers. I try to imagine the way He must have spoken to her. Could He have said it lovingly? Please oh God, show me how He must have said this lovingly. But I know He didn’t.
It’s right there on the page, plain to see. I’ve read Matthew a hundred times and never noticed it, but tonight it is leaping from the page.
Fortunately, the Gentile dog is ready with a witty retort. “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Jesus likes this. “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” Her daughter, adds Matthew, was healed that very hour.
He rewards her faith in spite of her ethnicity. Maybe it is all about faith, but this kind of faith, faith-as-token, faith-as-ticket, is not what I expected from my journey into faith, not what I expected from Jesus.
He rewards her faith in spite of her ethnicity. Maybe it is all about faith, but this kind of faith, faith-as-token, faith-as-ticket, is not what I expected from my journey into faith, not what I expected from Jesus.
There’s more. Jesus doesn’t always appear to want people to understand His parables (Matthew 13). So far from trying desperately to help people understand that He is the Savior of their souls, Jesus obscures the truth. He predicts quick death and destruction for people who won’t believe the disciples’ preaching (Matthew 10). He cries out against the cities that don’t repent after He performs miracles (Matthew 11).
I can make sense of some of this. Of course Jesus is mad at people who don’t repent after He heals diseases right before their eyes. Of course He becomes frustrated with the silly disciples who have to be told everything ten, twenty, fifty times before they get it. But still, on the basis of everything else I’ve learned about Jesus from CCM and Quiet Time devotionals, the gospels are nothing short of scandalous. Jesus storms through the pages of Matthew in a way I have never seen before, and I am frightened by it. My stomach clenches. I would cry if I were not so horrified. Why has this stuff not been explained to me? I am attending a Christian university. We should be talking about this!
But maybe the problem is that my biblical vision has been veiled.
But maybe the problem is that my biblical vision has been veiled.
His crisis of faith is due to the preachers who tried to hide the real Jesus from him.
So don't tell us that you know more about bringing people to Jesus than Jesus does. Jesus is rude, he is attention-grabbing, charismatic, he shocks people, he wakes them up, makes them snap out it, and do what needs to be done to escape damnation.
Update: a few of Christ's favorite slurs:
"DOGS" Matt. 7:6 Jesus said, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs" (see also 2 Peter 2:20-22, Rev. 22:15)
"SWINE" Matt. 7:6 "...neither cast your pearls before swine"
"SWINE" Matt. 7:6 "...neither cast your pearls before swine"
"VIPERS" Matt. 3:7 "O generation of vipers..." (see also Matt. 12:34, 23:33 and Luke 3:7)
"HYPOCRITES" Matt.6:2 "...as the hypocrites in the synagogues..." (see also Matt.6:5, 16, 15:7, 16:3, 22:18, 23:13-15, 29, 24:51, Mark 7:6, Luke 11:44, 12:56)
"CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL" John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil..." (see also Acts 13:10)
"PERVERSE" Mat. 17:17"...O faithless and perverse generation" (see also Luke 9:41, Acts 20:30, Phil. 2:15, 1Tim. 6:5)
"REPROBATE" 2Cor 13:5-7 "...except ye be reprobates" (see also Rom 1:28, 2Tim. 3:8, Tit. 1:16)
"HEATHEN" Mat. 6:7 "...as the heathen do" (see also Mat.18:17, Act 4:25, 2Cor. 11:26, Gal. 1:16, 2:9, 3:8)
"HEATHEN" Mat. 6:7 "...as the heathen do" (see also Mat.18:17, Act 4:25, 2Cor. 11:26, Gal. 1:16, 2:9, 3:8)
"FOOLS" Mat. 23:17 "...Ye fools and blind" (see also Luke 12:20, 1Cor.15:36, Mat.23:19, Luke 11:40, 24:25, Eph. 5:15)
"WICKED AND ADULTEROUS" Mat. 16:4 "A wicked and adulterous generation" (see also Mat. 12:45, 13:49, 18:32, 21:41, 25:26, Luke 19:22, 1Cor. 5:13, 2Thes. 3:2, 2Pet. 2:7, 3:17)
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