Did Jesus Complain?

Real People meeting a Real God

The Real Teenage John Picking Forbidden Grain

What was Jesus' Complaint?

Was Jesus Upset?
What do you think?
Luke 12:49-50 (Pardon the overly literal translation):

"FIRE came I to cast upon the earth!
Oh, that it were already set alight!
But there is a baptism I must be baptized with,
And what vexation I must endure until it is accomplished!"
(I owe the translation of the last line to the "BDAG," the grand-daddy of all the Greek-English lexicons.)

What? I thought that Jesus came to bring peace on earth! But his very next words were, "Do you think that I've come to bring peace on earth? No, I say, but rather division."

Let's take a look at what's been going on in Jesus' life before this point. Sometime in the summer of AD 29, Jesus had privately told his disciples--twice--that he was going to be abused and killed, to arise on the third day. The disciples understood none of that. Between these two teachings, Jesus was transfigured on Elijah's mountain, witnessed by his three closest disciples. One or more of these three heard Moses and Elijah talking about Jesus' "exodus" which he would soon accomplish at Jerusalem.

So Jesus was well aware of his impending death, and where it would take place. He was at the time safe in Galilee, but if he were to enter Judea he would be in danger: apparently the chief priests had issued an arrest warrant for him. Because of this, Jesus declined to go in public to Autumn's Feast of Tabernacles, instead going in private.

John's Gospel tells the story: Jesus arrived in the middle of the 7-day festival, appearing on October 15, AD 29 in the temple courtyards to preach and teach. The high priests sent the temple police out to arrest him, but they returned empty-handed, saying, "No one has ever spoken the way this man speaks!" The high priests were furious. Rather than being captured, imprisoned, and executed, "this man" who threatened their authority over the temple was teaching openly.

The narrative continues in Luke's Gospel, in a segment we call "Luke's Special Section," because the other three gospels do not show this part of the story. This segment includes Jesus' visit to the home of his friends Martha and Mary in Judea, and concludes with Jesus and his disciples in nearby Perea, safe from the High Priests. Between these two book-ends, probably in November, Luke records several teachings of Jesus, given to his disciples while the public looks on.

"FIRE came I to cast upon the earth!"  These words of Jesus burst into the middle of his teachings, as he describes the powerful feelings within himself. If these words were found in the middle of the book of Job, no one would hesitate to call them a "complaint." Jesus knows what his end will be--on the cross. He even urges his followers to pick up their crosses and follow him. But only the Father knows the day and the hour when Jesus will undergo his "baptism."

Jesus returns to Jerusalem on April 2, AD 30, and within a few days the prophecies are fulfilled: Jesus is arrested, tried, convicted, abused, and nailed to the cross. And on the third day he rises from the dead, just as he said he would.

"BUT," you say, "WHAT ABOUT PEACE ON EARTH?"

That comes also, and you can find out just how it comes by picking up Episode 3 of my book series, JOHN! Episode Three - AD 29.  It can be found soon at rolinbruno.com, and even sooner on Amazon: just go to Amazon and search for Rolin Bruno.

Jesus: Fully Man and Fully God

Real People in the Bible

Jesus was "Fully Man"

Teenage John (center) - a real person - Snacking on Forbidden Grain

Too often, Bible readers approach the characters in the Bible in their personas as saints, prophets, kings, heroes, villains, warriors, -- anything but real people. They become cardboard cutouts with preassigned personalities, not that different from the denizens of cartoons. In my books I try to strip all that away to reveal the real people -- or at least the imagined real people -- that underlie the roles that have been assigned to them.

In the Gospels, the character about whom we have the most data is Jesus--of course--so I will begin here. In this and subsequent posts I'll deal with what we know about the things that were going on inside Jesus as the Gospel story unfolds--the things that reveal his humanity.

Jesus Wept.

Many of us know this as the shortest verse in the Bible (John 11:35), taking place after the death of Lazarus. From the pulpit, this verse is often quoted to demonstrate the humanity of Jesus, that is, that Jesus actually had emotions. The writer John doubled down on this: three verses later he  writes, "So Jesus, again being deeply moved, comes to the tomb." Some of the bystanders said "See how he loved him!" (that is, See how Jesus loved Lazarus). But let's take this apart and see what's really going on with Jesus.

Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were friends of Jesus. The Bible evidence suggests that these were friends of Jesus even before he was baptized and began his ministry. They lived just a couple of miles from Jerusalem, and Jesus would have visited them when he and his family went up to Jerusalem for the feasts of the Jews, especially Passover.

When Lazarus was desperately ill, his sisters Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus, saying, "Lord, the one whom you love is sick." But Jesus did not come to help, instead staying where he was for two more days. Then he told his disciples he was going to Judea--where they were threatening to stone Jesus--to see Lazarus. He said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awaken him out of sleep."

His disciples thought he meant a literal sleep, and he had to correct them, saying, "Lazarus is dead. I am glad for you sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him." In other words, it was Jesus' plan to allow Lazarus to die, so that his followers would believe in him when Lazarus was raised. Not only that, but Jesus had been spending time in Jerusalem with the high priests fulminating against him, but still not daring to arrest him in public, keeping Jesus from his destiny at the cross. John's Gospel tells us that the raising of Lazarus was the last straw, making Jesus' ministry dangerous to the priests who controlled the temple.

So when Jesus arrived at the tomb, Lazarus had been dead four days, according to Jesus' plan. But when Jesus saw Mary and her friends weeping over the death of her brother, he was "deeply moved in spirit and was troubled." It was at this that Jesus wept, seeing the pain in his friends. He was moved by his love and compassion for his friends.

The Chinese preacher Witness Lee, follower of Watchman Nee, noted that Jesus was not weeping for Lazarus, for Lazarus' death was part of Jesus' plan. But Lee opines that Jesus was weeping because of  the lack of faith of his followers. I would suggest that this comes from the cardboard cutout image of Jesus, not letting him step out of his role as savior and experience a real emotional response such as you and I might have in the presence of distraught, weeping people at a funeral.

To be continued...

Charles Spurgeon famously said, "Jesus wept, but he never complained."

I beg to differ, and we'll look into that next time.