Daily Java:While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46"Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." (Luke 20:45-47)
I saw this passage this morning on my morning Bible reading website and it startled me. It seems in direct contrast to the picture so many have of Jesus.
In this passage Jesus comes across as trying to antagonize the leadership of the Jewish system. He is sticking it to the Man.
While all the people were listening… He turns from telling the religious leadership a problem they couldn’t answer and tells everybody that these same spiritual leaders were self-important twits.
His question? How can the Messiah be the Son of David if David, the King of Israel, calls him King. How can the Son of David sit at the right hand of the Father and use the earth as his footstool (in a metaphorical way) and still be David’s son?
Of course, they had no answer. Their picture of the Messiah, like ours, was wrapped up in too much interpretational theology. They had figured out some stuff and tried to shoehorn the Messiah into it all.
Jesus says here that it doesn’t work. And he says that it just shows their ignorance. And he says it in front of everybody – all the people.
It is hard to reconcile the picture of this antagonistic Jesus with the Lamb of God, with the man who was meek and gentle. This Jesus was not considerate, and it seems, did not care about the sensitivities of his listeners.
It also sounds as if he just plain got tired of their stupidity and decided that he was not going to put up with it anymore.
If I did that, people would claim that I was not Christ-like in my attitudes.
Of course, one could say that Jesus was the Son of God and knew when to say such things, but I don’t think so.
I believe the human side of Jesus just got tired of foolishness and decided to not suffer fools gladly.
What if I did that?
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