There is a remarkable account in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus is dining with a religious Jewish man, a member of the Pharisees, who were highly esteemed in the ancient Jewish world. When the Pharisee questioned why Jesus did not follow their handwashing custom, the Lord proceeded to rebuke him and his fellow-Pharisees in the strongest possible terms.

At this point, another guest at the dinner, himself a Torah teacher, said to Jesus, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

Now, you might have thought that the Lord would have been diplomatic, saying, “Hey, I didn’t mean to offend you. I was only speaking to hypocritical Pharisees. I didn’t have you and your group in mind.”

After all, there were many different camps and groups in ancient Judaism, just as in the Church today, and some of them were quite hostile to others. Perhaps Jesus was in favor of one of the groups but not another? Perhaps His answer would carefully thread the needle, not bringing needless offense?

“Woe to You”

To the contrary, Jesus responded to this Torah teacher’s comment with a series of rebukes against that group, culminating with, “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52; for the whole passage, see Luke 11:37-54)

Talk about hitting someone between the eyes. Talk about a searing rebuke. Oh my.

And remember: all this took place over a meal at a home, not in some hostile crowd setting. Instead, this was a friendly gathering of religious Jewish men, men who invited Yeshua, a respected but controversial Jewish teacher, to dine with them.

Yet the Lord pulled no punches, exposing hypocrisy wherever He saw it, even if it caused intense opposition and offense. In that sense, Jesus was (and is) the perfect example of an equal opportunity offender. He makes everyone uncomfortable.

In the words of some Pharisees who sought to trap Him in His words, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.” (Matthew 22:16)

They meant this to flatter Him, but their description was totally accurate. Jesus would tell it like it is, regardless of the consequences or cost. He was (and is) the ultimate truth teller.

But this sword cuts both ways, meaning that the Jesus we preach to others might also have a message for us. We might be the Torah teachers in the room, telling the Lord that His rebuke of our colleagues next door hits a little too close to home for us. In response He might say, “I have something to say to you also!”

Jesus Challenges the Status Quo of the Church and the World

That’s why He tells us to be careful to remove the log from our own eyes first before we try to remove the splinter from someone else’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

For sure, we want to get that splinter out and help others. But we better get our own lives in order first.

That’s why I have said for years that heterosexual, no-fault divorce in the Church did more damage to marriage than all gay activists combined.

That’s why we need to preach to ourselves before preaching to others.

That’s why, even as I write these words, I ask myself, “What might the Lord want to say to me today? Where are my blind spots? Where might I be guilty of holding double standards? Where have I neglected something of great importance to Him?”

The bottom line is simple: If the Jesus we preach does not challenge the status quo — be it the status quo of the Church or the world — we are not preaching the real Jesus. Put another way, if the Jesus we preach does not make us uncomfortable at times, we are not preaching the real Jesus.

It is true that He is merciful and compassionate, bringing comfort and love to the hurting and affirmation to the weak.

At the same time the old adage is true: The Lord comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

Let’s Preach the Real Jesus

Let us be careful, then, not to preach toothless, never-offensive Jesus who is like a goofy big brother — always with a laugh and a smile, but lacking decisiveness and clarity. That is not the Jesus of the Bible, the one who remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

It was Mark Twain, himself a great skeptic who suffered much in this world, who reportedly said, “Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can’t understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand.”

That’s the case with the words of Jesus. Some things He said are the subject of intense debate among commentators and scholars. What, exactly, was He saying?

But those aren’t the most troublesome passages, at least to me.

The ones that trouble me are the ones that are abundantly clear, shaking me and challenging me and awakening me and calling me deeper. In the most loving, wonderful way, He makes us uncomfortable to this day.

It will do our souls good to embrace the discomfort, to get on our faces and say, “Have Your way in my life, Lord, whatever the cost or consequence.” Then, we stand to our feet and preach Him to the world. That’s what disciples do.

 

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.