Are Our Reactions Christ-like?

Confrontation with others

Sometimes we have confrontations with those with whom we say we love.  Maybe it is a spouse, close friend, or a brother in Christ or maybe even a church leader.  How did Jesus handle this? 

First,  Jesus put others before Himself.                   

Matthew 14: 14 - 15

^13 “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+14%3A+13-14&version=NIV1984)

Jesus had just lost the one that came before Him, the one who baptized him, a cousin and I am sure, a friend.  He needed some time away from the crowds, some quiet time, a time of solitude.  Even though I am sure He mourned the death of John the Baptist, I believe he also knew His time would soon come as well.  He needed to process all of this and talk to His Father, so He retreated.  Now the crowds were even more interested in what He had to say and they followed Him.  The question I must ask myself is, “How would I have reacted to the crowds?”  I have a feeling that I would have told the disciples to get rid of them.  When I am upset I want to be alone and alone does not mean a great deal of people demanding things of me.  Yet Jesus took their needs above His own and He had compassion and He healed the sick.  At then He fed them and then sent them on their way.  Wow, this is a prime example of putting others before ourselves.

When I was growing up and would share a conflict that I was having towards a friend with my dad, he would always say, “How do you think that made them feel?”  He would always take the other person’s side and it would make me so mad.  It would make me mad because I knew he was right.  I knew that I needed to consider the feelings of others not just my own.  That is what “loving your neighbor” is about, trying to understand one another to the point of stepping out of your own shoes and stepping into the shoes of others.  That is not always easy to do but it must be done in order to resolve conflict.  I have been a part of conflict resolution where I went away feeling worse than when I went in and I have also been a part of conflict resolution where I felt both parties left with a better understanding of each other and left with joy in their hearts.  Which way do you think Jesus wants us to react to conflict?  One person bearing the weight of the entire problem or everyone realizing that they are human and that everyone makes mistakes?  The answer can be found in Matthew 18:15 – 18 where Jesus spells out how we should react.  First go to the brother; second, take someone with you; third bring it to the church; lastly treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.  How did Jesus treat the pagans and the tax collectors?  Matthew 9:10  New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.  He didn’t cast them out but showed the love and compassion, He dined with them. 

Now the question is, “How did Jesus handle those within the church who refused to listen to what He had to say?  How did He handle those who did not show honor to the Father? 

Matthew 21:12-13 New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹² Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ¹³ “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’”

Jesus became angry when He saw how the house of His Father was being treated.  He stood up for the Father.  Notice, this did not happen in the city itself, it happened in the synagogue, a place that was to be dedicated to prayer.  He did not get angry at those who did not know any better He got angry with those who did.

Matthew 23:29-36 New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

 

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

 

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.  ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(J) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023:29-36&version=NIV1984)

 

Jesus, the man of compassion, had more compassion for the Father’s house than he had for those who tried to make it something that it was not created to be.  Sometimes I feel that our church’s today are getting to be more of a showplace than a place of worship.  I have seen it go from a place where we honored God to a place where we honor our on earthly pleasures.  Think about that for a little while.  Are you honoring God or are you seeking your own pleasures when you attend church?  What are ways that we show that we are putting God before ourselves in our churches today? 

 

 

Matthew 16:21-23

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

^21 “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’”

If there is ever a time that I would say that Jesus spoke against prosperity teaching is in these verses.  Peter, I think was trying to tell Jesus that He was too good for these things to happen to Him.  He was trying to be of encouragement yet was rebuking the very words of Jesus.  Jesus very bluntly identifies this as words from satan.   

 

Notice Jesus is a man of compassion, love, forgiveness but when His Father is being compromised He is a man of righteous anger, bluntness, and may even seem a little harsh.  As we go through life, we are not always going to be liked, Jesus was not always liked.  We are not always going to be perceived as gentle, kind, compassionate because there are times that we will need to stand up for what we believe to be the truth.  We must always make sure that our anger, bluntness, harshness, is not because of our own selfish desires.  We need to make sure that when we speak we speak the truth, and that in doing so, we draw others unto Him.  If they refuse to listen, we need to move on to others who are willing to listen to the will of the Father.  That is what Jesus did.

 

Seek Him and know what His reactions would be and then go and be Christ-like to the world.

 

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila