Was Jesus a Wimp?

Today's One Big Idea:  

Jesus the man was a fighter.  That is our heritage and that's who we come from.

 "If a boy is to become a man, if a man is to know he is one, this is not an option.  A man has to know where he comes from and what he's made of." - Wild at Heart

Where do you come from?  Who do you come from?

Those are good questions to ask.

I come from a man who was super nice - but also had a tough-guy streak in him apparently, too.

One of my favorite thoughts of my dad was that he was a golden-glove boxer in high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  He is a southpaw, lefty and he's got fast hands.  I always imagined that he was probably a great boxer when he was younger.

Me?  Well, I was good at other things, I suppose, but getting punched in the face and taking on a fight was never one of my finer skillsets or ambitions.

In fact, anyone who knows me well knows I was VERY wimpy as a kid.  I was afraid of everything!

Which reminds of the story of a time when me and several of my friends were at a junior high school track meet as kids. 

There were several schools running that day and we were just being goofy kids (probably trying to impress some girls) and we were yelling out stupid things to people when they would run by us.  Probably pretty innocent things but I really can't remember what we said.

What I DO remember, however, was what one of the older kids from another school said to us.  He was a stocky, muscular, older kid from Springport (a school about a half hour from my hometown) and he was one of those kids who looked like he'd been in eight grade for about four years.  In fact....maybe THAT'S what we said to him!

Anyhow, after the kid runs by us he came back around and said, "Hey!  Meet me right here after the meet is over."  In other words:  we'll settle this like men!

See, that was the problem though.  I certainly wasn't a man and neither were my childish, childhood buddies.  But this guy sure seemed like he was and he wanted to prove it!

So as soon as the meet was over we told the girls we had to leave and we ran as fast as we could to one of my friend's vehicles.  To my shock and horror - so did the 25 year old 8th grader who looked like he wanted to kill us!

How do I know?  Because he ran to the car that all 3 of us were huddled in the back seat in - the one where we had our fingers on the locks and terrified looks on our faces.  He kept challenging us to come out and fight him.  The dude was so psycho that he wanted to fight all 3 of us!  I couldn't believe it.  To make matters worse, one of my friends' dads saw the commotion and started coming over to the car.  I thought for sure we were about to be rescued and that he'd make the freak leave us alone.  Instead, he started yelling at us, "Hey...get out of the car and fight like a man!"

I couldn't believe it.  But guess what I did?

I kept my finger firmly pushed on that lock!  There was no way in the world I was getting out of that car!

What Would Jesus Do?

Which leads me back to Jesus.  What was he like?  Would he have gotten out of the car and "fought like a man"?  

How do you picture him?  What do you think he was like?

We may not think of this much, but these questions are very important to consider and wrestle with.

As A.W. Tozer once said, "What we think of God is the most important thing about us."

I think he's right!  

So was Jesus a timid guy?  Was he shy? The ultra nice guy?  Was he passive, a push-over, or weak?

You see, how we answer that is very important because as John Eldredge says in the opening quote above, "A man has to know where he comes from and what he's made of."

If our spiritual lineage is from a wimpy, weak man - what does that mean for us?  Is that, then, our goal as men?  For many Christians, you'd think so.

Eldredge goes on in chapter 2 of his book, Wild at Heart, to say that the pictures and images and even the examples of men that we see in the church today give us the impression that Jesus was the world's nicest guy and that maybe we should be like that, too.

"(Jesus was like) Mister Rogers with a beard.  Telling me to be like him feels like telling me to go limp and passive.  Be nice.  Be swell.  Be like Mother Teresa....I'd much rather be told to be like William Wallace!"

Wouldn't you, too?  I know I would.

Was Jesus a Wimp?

I don't think we've accurately depicted who Jesus was and what he was like as a man.  When I read Scriptures, I definitely see "nice Jesus" in there.  But there's more to him than that because I see Jesus the fighter too. 

One of my favorite passages that shows us this side of him is found in John 18:4-9.  You should read the whole thing but here's my key takeaways:

When the cowards showed up in the middle of the night "with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons" to arrest Jesus we saw how he responded (I love this!):  verse 4 - "Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them." 

Jesus FULLY realized what was about to go down.  Imagine if you knew all the details of what Jesus was about to go through but that person who had to step forward was you.  Would you do what Jesus did and "step forward to meet them" - or would you do like I did when I locked myself in the car after that track meet?

Jesus was definitely no wimp! 

What kind of strength do you think it took to face his greatest fears - of the cross, the torture, the disconnection from his Father, the ridicule, the abandonment - and to STILL step forward?

Incredible strength!  The strength of a man who knew he had what it took to take it on in love for people like me and you.  

You see, how you think of Jesus affects how you think of you and your role as a man too.  Our goal is not to be some tough-guy or macho man.  But to think of manhood as a means to just being nice, kind, and never raising your voice is so far off, too!  

Yes, we need to be loving and tender at times when the moments call for it.  But if that's the only thing we know or the only way we act then we'll miss out on what Jesus was like and what he's called us to be like as men trying to imitate him.

Jesus was a fighter and we are called to act like men - to act like him - and to Get In The Fight, too!

Listen to Podcast Episode #7 to hear Nate share more about this idea.  Click here to listen.

Have you joined The Fight Club yet?  Join a group of Fighters who are trying to be more like Jesus, too!

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