Jesus Said What?

You’ve probably seen a painting of him.

He has long blonde hair, a strong jaw, bright blue eyes, and (judging by the children around him) he is probably six foot three. The painting isn’t meant to resemble a Scandinavian male model, it’s meant to resemble Jesus of Nazareth. The reality is that Jesus the Messiah looked nothing like a Swedish GQ cover-boy.

But before we get too far down the road of mockery, we should recognize that in a sense the painting serves as a mirror. The painting shows us that we often turn Jesus into someone that we want him to look like.

We often think of Jesus as this gentle lad who is very meek and mild. We think the God of the Old Testament seems like a real grump, but Jesus is just a really nice guy. We call ourselves “Red-Letter-Christians” because we think that means we only talk about the nice parts of the Bible and avoid those awkward parts about judgement. We think Jesus wouldn’t hurt a fly or that he wouldn’t raise his voice. But then we read the gospels and we read Jesus saying things like:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

“… No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

“Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.”

Wait… JESUS SAID WHAT?

And that’s the question we will ask over and over again during this sermon series. It will bust open our preconceived notions of gentle-Jesus meek-and-mild. It will wipe away our view of Jesus as only someone who said nice things that we can put on mugs. It will help us understand the gospel better, and it will help us understand Jesus better. These eight weeks will show us some of the sayings that leave readers of the Bible asking the question: Jesus said WHAT?