People entertain different characteristics abut the kind of person Jesus is. Some Christians in particular see Jesus as a person who is kind and loving. They also perceive Him as having the characteristic of a humble, peace-loving individual. To them, He is holy as well as righteous and loathes sin. They see Jesus as a person who forbids and punishes sin since He is also God.
Another characteristic entertained by Christians about the kind of person Jesus is, is that He blesses only those individuals who obey Him and practice holiness but does not bless sinners or heathens. Jesus is also seen as being harsh to some extent due to His hatred for sin. So when some Christians commit sin or are involved in sinful acts, they find it difficult to go to church or ask for forgiveness through prayer for fear that Jesus (God) might strike them dead.
However, despite the characteristics about Jesus entertained by some Christians, there are some given in the Gospel of Mark which does not seem to fit well with the perception that has just been mentioned above.
Two specific characteristics which tend to create some tension with the description aforementioned include that Jesus is a humble, peace-loving person and that He only blesses those who obey Him but does not bless sinners as well as the unrighteous.
The first personality characteristic about the kind of person Jesus is which creates some tension is that He is a humble, peace-loving person. In Mark 11: 15 – 19 a sharp contrast to the characteristic is revealed which portrays Jesus as an angry, tempered person. In these verses, Jesus had just left Bethany the previous day and was on His way to Jerusalem (pp. 872).
On reaching there, He went to the temple to pray but was shocked to find people doing transactions and exchanging money in the house of God. He immediately began overturning tables while chasing everyone out of the temples. He even beat some individuals and rebuked them saying that the temple was a place of worship and not a den of thieves. Later on, the chief priests as well as Pharisees of Jerusalem started looking for Him to kill Him but could not find Him and Jesus left the town late in the evening, together with His disciples.
Now, with what Christians have all along been taught about characteristics of Jesus including the one aforementioned, tension is greatly created by these verses about the kind of person Jesus was and might even create some doubt in the hearts of Christians.
The second personality characteristic about the kind of person Jesus is which also tends to create some tension is that He only blesses those who obey Him but does not bless or forgive sinners and heathens.
In contrast, it is true that Jesus loathes sin and punishes those who commit sin but He does bless even the sinners and heathens since He is not partial to anyone as illustrated in John 3:16 – 21. A story is given in Mark 11:12 – 14; 20 – 26 of a fig tree. As Jesus together with His disciples was leaving Bethany early in the morning, He became hungry and approached a fig tree He had seen from a distance to see whether He could get a fruit from it. When He saw there was not any fruit on the tree, He cursed it and left (pp. 872).
The following day, they passed near the same fig tree and saw that it was all dried up and withered. This story was given to encourage those who have little faith and those sinners, both Christians and heathens who might be afraid to pray and ask for forgiveness. In verses 24 – 26, Jesus is quoted telling the disciples that if anyone has faith and asks for anything, it will be granted (pp. 872). Also, when sinners pray and ask for forgiveness, they ought to forgive those who have wronged them first inorder for God to in turn forgive their sins. This is again illustrated in Mark 4:10 – 12 (pp. 863).
Conclusion
In the preceding paragraphs, it has been revealed that there is some tension created about the characteristic that Jesus is and what some Christians entertain about the kind of person He really is.
Despite the tension, the new personality traits aforementioned can be integrated with the original description of Jesus’ personality. Jesus (God) never does anything to harm us. Everything He does is to try and guide us, show us the right way to go and the right way to live but since us as humans are stubborn in character, He also has to become harsh to some extent for us to get the point and understand. God in the person of Jesus is indeed a loving, humble, peace-loving and caring person who came that we might have life and has it abundantly.
References
- Talmage, James E. Jesus the Christ. Salt Lake City. 1963.
- Robert G. Hammerton-Kelly. The Gospel and the Sacred: the Politics of Violence in Mark Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 1993.
- Vincent Taylor. The Gospel According to St. Mark, 2nd ed. A classic. London: Macmillan. 1966.
- Youth Bible – Global Edition. The Gospels of Mark and John. Contemporary English Version. United Bible Societies. 2004.