Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
It may be startling to us, but Jesus exhibited anger during His earthly ministry. He was following His own command found in Ephesians 4:26a: “Be ye angry, and sin not.” Whereas our anger can be misdirected and lead to wrongdoing, the anger that Jesus demonstrated was pure and beneficial. In Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees, the religious leaders at that time, tried to trick Jesus by presenting a conundrum to Him. If He said to pay taxes, He would appear to be lining up with the oppressive Romans. If He said to withhold the tribute money, He would be seen as a traitor to the Romans. Either way, the Pharisees felt that they would gain an advantage. Jesus’ answer in verse 21 is, of course, perfect. Note in verse 18 that Jesus used the harsh but accurate designation “hypocrites” for them. He used it twelve times in the book of Matthew, indicating that hypocrisy was a serious problem, especially amongst the leaders. His anger was appropriate, for these leaders, like ours in Washington, exempted themselves from the laws that they required of others. There is more to consider on this subject, but for today let us limit ourselves to this simple conclusion: since hypocrisy angers Jesus, we must beware it.