The Difficult Savior

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 ESV

We do not expect a righteous God. Nor do we expect to be persecuted in the name of a righteous God. What is this righteousness? Perfect, just, and true. We humans have a hard time measuring up to holy perfection. God’s righteousness does not always look the way we expect it to. Those humans encountering His Son had the same problem.

Sitting with the harsh words of Jesus just days before he would be executed by public demand is uncomfortable. He is not the gentle, mild, and kind Jesus holding out the love and compassion that we see in the children’s storybooks. He does not have a sign in his front yard reassuring us that everything will be okay. This is not that story.

I am reading the book of Matthew, chapter 13. As Jesus tangles with the religious leaders in the Temple, I look closely into the faces of those well-thought-of men. The color has drained from their faces. They thought they knew this troublesome teacher. They thought they were smart enough to silence him and disperse the hopeful crowd hanging on his every word. They thought they could expose him as a charlatan, a pretender. But he is not cooperating, he is not backing down, he is not playing nice.

I find myself underlining every word as I dig into Matthew 23:13-36. Open your bible and read these harsh words for yourself. His judgment begins with a bang: “Woe to you!” That is an old-fashioned word we don’t use anymore. My definition? “Beware! Damnation ahead. The road under your feet is going to drop away and you will experience a steep fall into the pit of hell.” Whoa! We don’t like this look of judgment and damnation from our Jesus. Maybe Matthew could have left this part out? It isn’t very seeker-friendly.

But it gets worse. Jesus uses the word ‘Woe’ six more times to add up to the holy number of seven. You should read for yourself why he is so very unhappy with the religious leaders of the Jews. He begins by charging that they do not want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and are intent on preventing others who trust them for guidance from entering. The blind lead the blind.

The word picture that is most striking for me is “you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness” (v. 27). Now, that is a vivid picture of hypocrisy! I think I need to carefully examine my own life to see how closely I am standing with these hypocrites. Am I busy cleaning up my appearance on the outside while I am full of greed and self-indulgence inside? Ouch!

I am reminded of yesterday, as I was waking (before I read the passage in Matthew), the Holy Spirit put into my still sleep-dazed mind the cry of David:

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord,

and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation,

and renew a right spirit within me." 1 

A clean heart. That is what Jesus is looking for. He desires to renew in me a right spirit. He desires to give me his righteous Spirit. That is what David, the broken king, desired when he felt the sorrow of his fall.

“…according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
 Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.”

Psalm 51:1b-4

This is the problem we have with God. With Jesus. They alone are truly righteous, and their judgment is justified. Lord, be merciful! But the leaders who sit in the seat of Moses looking into the face of Jesus are not having it. They are not convinced of their brokenness. They harden their hearts, they harden their faces. And Jesus is not done with them.

“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:33). Yes, indeed, I am beginning to wonder that myself. And then comes the word: “Therefore…”. It is a word of conclusion meaning as a result, for that reason, this is what will happen…

“Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, 

some of whom you will kill and crucify,

and some you will flog in your synagogues

and persecute from town to town, 

so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth… 

Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

vv. 34-36 

Does no one in the room notice what he just said? “I will send…” God is the one who has sent prophets and wise men and scribes. Is Jesus claiming he will do precisely the same thing? Send prophets? Is Jesus speaking as God? Well, yes, he is!

This is where I return to the thought I started with: we do not expect to be persecuted in the name of a righteous God. But we should. Every single disciple who held up the name of Jesus as Messiah and Savior experienced persecution, and many experienced brutal death for his name.

It started with the stoning of Stephen. You can read his incredible words that brought about the first stone in Acts 7:51-53. It continued with early believers being burned alive to provide light in Nero’s Gardens and fed to lions for entertainment.2 And apparently, it will not end until the end of this age (Revelation 6:9-11). It is going on now. Seventy Christians were rounded up and beheaded in the Congo in February.3

These are not the stories we want to read. Can’t we all get along? Let us be nice and quiet and sing together now. Pay no attention to that troublemaker Jesus, who seems to be stirring up division in the very house of God. Oh, but wait. I am supposed to be following him, not the ones he is making angry with his righteous words.

I remember that the problem here is ultimately God’s righteousness. His ways are not our ways. His higher ways have long been a stone in the shoe that bruises. His Word is a stone that causes us to stumble and fall if we are not aligned with him. We listen to the little lies of the world, hoping there is another way that lines up better with our ideas of justice and righteousness. A way that includes everybody and every belief and keeps us all walking together on a smooth path. Just pay no attention to those people over there on the sideline, blinded by hatred with a stone clenched in their hands.

Do not look to the left or the right. I need to keep my eyes on Jesus. Because he is not done yet. Keep reading this account from Matthew. There he is. I imagine him overlooking the city as he cries out,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!

How often would I have gathered your children together 

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

and you were not willing!” (v. 37).

Yes! There is our compassionate and loving Jesus! What a beautiful image of a mother hen protecting her young ones! Safe within her wings, warm and cozy, safe and sound from all harm! But there is a problem: you were not willing. Let that sink in, those chilling words of refusal!

That is the problem with this broken world filled with broken people refusing to acknowledge their brokenness. We are not willing to be embraced by Jesus unless he plays by our rules and follows our vision of righteousness. And there it is: if I do not accept his correction and forgiveness, then instead, I accept his judgment. “See, your house is left to you desolate” (v. 38).

Jerusalem would experience the weight of their decision in 70 AD4 as the Romans starved them and slaughtered them, trampling over their bodies as the soldiers destroyed the walls of protection and burned the Temple.

If I long for a soft, safe Jesus who is not controversial and pats everyone kindly on the hand, I may not be following the Son of God. I may have created an image that I am worshipping of a nice tame Jesus. One I can easily approve of. I need to remind myself that Jesus was difficult enough to get himself killed. How willing am I to follow him?

Q. Does Jesus ever say things that make you uncomfortable? Why?

Odetta - Battle Hymn Of The Republic

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