There is a widespread sentiment – both in our society & in some quarters of the church -that Christians ought to be “nice” people. And no doubt there is a sense in which this is true. Christians ought to bear the fruit of the Spirit, which include kindness & gentleness. But there is another sense in which this is quite misleading. Too many people believe that being “nice” means strictly avoiding any kind of confrontation or disagreement. “Nice” people shouldn’t be critical of others.
By this flawed definition, Jesus was definitely not a “nice” person. In fact, the Jesus we read about in our Bibles was highly confrontational. This is not to say that Jesus sought out confrontation simply because he enjoyed creating turmoil or conflict. Nor did he disagree with others solely for the sake of being argumentative.
Rather, Jesus saw himself as God’s anointed king, the one who would set all things right again. This weekend is Palm Sunday, when Christians celebrate the so-called “triumphal” entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. This occasion marked the first time that Jesus publicly affirmed his identity as the Messiah, Israel’s rightful king.
But this Messianic identity put Jesus on a collision course with the people of Israel. Jesus had the agonizing task to calling Israel to account for their rebellion against the will & wisdom of God.
Many years before, God had established a covenant with Israel. The descendants of Jacob were commanded to worship God alone & to live in obedience to his commandments. Through their faithfulness to the covenant, Israel would bring God’s blessing upon themselves. They would also demonstrate to all the nations how God intended the world to function and flourish.
The prophet Isaiah had famously compared God & Israel to an owner and his vineyard. “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:7)
A person who plants a vineyard eagerly anticipates the fruit that the vineyard will produce – an abundant crop of good grapes. In Israel’s case, the good grapes were a symbol for the righteous behavior which God required – the kind of conduct which would allow the creation to thrive.
Tragically, because of idolatry and rebellion, God’s vineyard only produced a crop of bad grapes. Instead of righteousness, there was wickedness and immorality. Rather than justice there was evil and oppression.
Isaiah’s song of the vineyard can greatly help us understand the events which transpired during the final week of Jesus’ life.
The day after Jesus’ grand entrance into Jerusalem, the book of Mark describes a scenario that many Bible readers find strange, if not downright bizarre. “Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.'” (Mark 11:12-14) The next morning, Jesus and his disciples again passed by that way. “They saw the fig tree, withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!'” (Mark 11:20-21)
What an odd story! Why would Mark include it in his gospel? Is this anecdote simply a strange way of demonstrating Jesus’ miraculous powers? But if it wasn’t the season for figs, why would Jesus expect the tree to be bearing any fruit? Was he suffering a fit of pique, causing him to lash out at a tree?
In our family, we sometimes joke about being “hangry.” That is, sometimes people when people are hungry, they’re prone to getting angry. Might this be an instance of Jesus being hangry?
When we recall the history of Israel and remember the words of the prophets, things begin to make much more sense. Jesus’ words and actions here are very deliberate; he is alluding to Isaiah’s story about the vineyard. Jesus had come to Israel on behalf of the vineyard owner, imploring her to produce the fruit required of them: true worship and righteousness. But Israel obstinately refused; she continued to produce the rotten fruit of wickedness, violence, immorality and injustice.
The curse which Jesus uttered against the fig tree was carefully calculated to convey a very specific meaning and message: just as the Lord cursed the fig tree which bore no fruit, so Israel had fallen under the curse of God. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, it was a dramatic act of prophetic symbolism. By his actions, Jesus was warning that God’s judgment was bearing down upon the nation of Israel.
The entire episode has a very dark and solemn quality. Yet this is the true Jesus of Nazareth. Again, most people in our culture tend to think of Jesus as a “nice” person. They want a version of Jesus who gets along with everyone. But this is not the real Jesus; it’s certainly not the one we find in the Bible.
Our society is like Ebenezer Scrooge, who begs the ghost of Jacob Marley, “Friend, speak comfort to me!” Likewise, people want a reassuring voice who makes them feel better about themselves, no matter how deluded their beliefs or how depraved their conduct. For those who refuse to amend their ways, Jesus responds just as Marley did: “I have none to give.”
This lesson is further reinforced by reading a bit further. When Peter calls his attention to the withered tree, Jesus responds, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22-24)
At this point, some readers might be thinking, “Hey! Isn’t this a great example of that ‘nice’ Jesus? After all, here he is, talking about prayer that moves mountains!” Now it is certainly true that this passage ought to give us strong encouragement to pray fervently, having faith that God will answer in powerful ways.
But let’s dig a little deeper. The city of Jerusalem is dominated by the temple mount, sometimes known as Mount Zion. Mark tells us that Jesus had been staying in Bethany, a little village just east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. So, when Jesus spoke these words, he would have been approaching Jerusalem, looking directly across the valley at the magnificent temple mount.
The point is this: when Jesus referred to “this mountain” being uprooted and thrown into the sea, he was referring to the destruction of the temple! The temple should have been the place of God’s presence, where the Almighty dwelt among his people, and through Israel, revealed himself to all the people of the earth. But Israel had squandered their inheritance; instead of being a light to the nations, they had been purveyors of shadow.
Jesus’ words are thus completely consistent with the rest of the events described in Mark chapter 11. First, he cursed the fig tree which bore no fruit. Second, he staged a dramatic act of prophetic judgment within the temple itself. Finally, he spoke about “this mountain” being thrown into the sea. All three episodes emphasize the same message: God’s dreadful anger would fall upon rebellious Israel who by and large had rejected Jesus as her rightful king. Indeed, within a matter of days, the people of Jerusalem would be shouting for Jesus to be executed on a Roman cross.
The prologue of John memorably states, “[Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” The story of Jesus’ life is one of nearly constant conflict and confrontation.
Far too many people have a false conception of a “nice” Jesus. Thankfully, this Jesus does not exist, because the Jesus that we may want is not the Jesus that the world needs. It is quite true that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy; he really did come to seek and to save what was lost. Jesus offers a rich welcome to all those willing to recognize their brokenness, lay aside their arrogance and bend the knee to his Lordship. “To those who received him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
But the true Jesus also came to destroy the evil powers which threaten to ruin God’s creation. The Lord was never squeamish about confronting those who embraced iniquity, nor was he afraid to condemn those who rejected the one true God.
