(PNN) PPSIMMONS News and Ministry Network: THE UNRECOGNIZABLE MESSIAH

by Rev. Joda Collins

For the most part, the religious leaders of Jesus' day did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. They had the Son of God crucified because he claimed to be the Son of God. How could it be that those who spent every Sabbath in the Synagogue in the study of the Word of God could not identify the fulfillment of the many prophesies in the person and the ministry of the Son of God? Jesus told them the answer to that question. Jesus said, "Search the scripture; for…they…testify of me." John 5:39.

How ironic that the professional Bible scholars who studied the scriptures nearly every day missed Jesus because they did not search the scriptures for him. They searched the scriptures but not to identify the coming Messiah. They were searching for scriptures that they felt supported their personal opinions of religion.

Jesus did not go where the religious people of his day thought was appropriate for the Messiah to go. He ate with sinners and had fellowship with a Roman-government employed tax collector. He preferred to preach on the hillside and lake side and not in religious buildings. He went to common people and not the religious establishment to deliver his message.

Jesus did not do what the religious scholars of the day thought the Messiah should do. He did not overthrow Roman rule, he did not treat women as second class citizens, did not limit the entrance to the kingdom of heaven to Jew and Jewish proselytes and he did not follow the invented religious rules of the religious leaders. He healed on the Sabbath and ate without ceremonially washing his hands. He selected common men to be his disciples and rejected the religious elite.

Mostly, they missed rightly identifying Jesus because of the way he spoke. He said things like, eat my body and drink my blood, I speak in parables so they will not be saved, you are snakes – hypocrites - whitewashed walls – sons of the devil, and go buy a sword for self-protection. Many of the things he said did not draw people to him, but pushed them away. You recall the rich young ruler walked away from Jesus after a brief conversation and Jesus let him walk. John 6:66 states that after a speech Jesus gave, many were so offended they stopped being disciples of Jesus. Jesus knew before he spoke that his words would act as a repellent. He spoke his words anyway. Jesus did not talk like the Messiah the religious people of his day were willing to accept. Therefore, they did not tolerate his words. (Do not miss the implications of 666. Do not tell me that God does not have a sense of humor!)

Permit me to give you some updated examples. Not long ago, I was speaking to a man who is held in high esteem in his church. We were discussing biblical truth. Mid conversation, he asked me to stop talking because I was making him uncomfortable with his current understanding of the Bible. He did not want to hear any more from the Word of God because he had his theology he gleaned from selected passages and I was messing up his theology by giving him fresh insight into biblical truth. What did I do? I immediately shut up. (Swine and pearls came to mind.)

I submitted a book to a publisher a number of years ago. The publisher praised the book but said his agency would not publish it. He said, "We have to make money and there is no market for your book. Church people do not want to read anything about that subject. Most church people today already have their minds made up about the doctrinal subject of your book."

It is a serious concern that I have that many (most?) church people today are missing the real Jesus because they are doing the same thing the first-century religious people did. They search the scriptures to find support for their personal opinions of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and truth instead of searching the scriptures for the truth about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and truth.

In the wake of such a movement we see church after church rise with great numbers whose leader preaches Jesus is sugar and spice and everything nice. I am not saying that Jesus is sour and nasty. I am saying that when the church (church people) are only willing to tolerate Bible-based teaching that makes them feel good or presents Jesus as some kind of milk-toast pansy whose only job is to pacify everyone, not offend anyone, give us what we want, when we want it and kiss our feet at the same time, there is something drastically wrong with that picture of Jesus.

If your Jesus is not allowed to use a whip to clear the temple, call people by unflattering designations (titles/groups), get angry (righteous indignation), speak in a way that repels some people, be sour and/or harsh towards some people, allow some people to be offended and walk away without a word from him to stop them, tell people to buy a gun for self-protection, allow a prostitute to touch his feet, be a friend to sinners or say no to you, then you have the same problem as the religious leaders of Jesus' day and you will miss the real Jesus for your entire life.