Jesus Unhinged: Part Two (or Three)

 


I want to wrap up my discussion showing Jesus in what I'm calling his "unhinged" state. You should look up the definition of "unhinged". Jesus did NOT always peacefully discuss various potential "options" of what his target Jewish faith leaders were doing and what they should NOT be doing and the consequences of NOT listening to him. I have focused on Jesus "unhinged" because I think it shows how human Jesus is. He was/is angry at what was/is wrong, and he reacted directly and bluntly. No doubt about hypocrites.

I briefly summarized the outraged Jesus in Matthew Chapter 23 in an earlier post. Almost the entire Chapter 23 involves Jesus yelling (yes, I think he was yelling and it should be read that way) and letting the Pharisees and scribes know they are condemned. Yet he closes with the comforting: "How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings..." However, he's not done (yelling again): "...and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate."  Folks, that's harsh.

Matthew Chapter 23 is not all of Jesus' wrath by a long shot. In his characteristic hyperbolic and sometimes very direct language Jesus issues extremely harsh words in these passages:

Matthew 5:27-30 "...If your right eye causes you sin, tear it out and throw it away..."

Matthew 10: 4-15 "...shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town...it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than that town."

Matthew 11:20-24 "...will you be exalted to heaven? NO, you will be brought down to Hades."

Matthew 12:31-32 "...whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

Matthew 13:41-42 "...The Son of Man will send his angels...and they will throw them into the furnace of fire..."

Matthew 21:12-13 "...he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves..." Now folks, can you imagine how unhinged Jesus had to be to go and have a fit INSIDE the Temple?

Matthew 24:51 "...He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites..." That statement solidifies what Jesus intends for "hypocrites".

Mark 3:11 "...He looked around at them with anger..." I don't want Jesus angry at me.

Mark 3:20-35 "...When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for the people were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind'. " This seems like a great expression of "unhinged".

These are some of the examples of Jesus unhinged, angry, mad. And he lashed out. He threatened and condemned. For an interesting study look at Matthew 21:18-19 and Mark 11:12-14. Jesus curses a fig tree.  Study the significance of 'fig tree'.

In next blog posts we can start asking questions as Socrates and Yoda would want us to:

...Why would the Jewish faith leaders want Jesus killed when he was known to be walking around HEALING PEOPLE!? 

...Why would the Jewish faith leaders want the Romans to kill Jesus when the Romans didn't really want to? Did the Jewish faith leaders think "their God" would not realize who the actual killers were? What kind of God and faith is that?



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