Jesus: The Original Savage

Savage: (’savij/noun/eng. slang): a person who is (without trying) an obvious legend and never fails to live up to his/her title as ‘a savage.’ (per: Urban Dictionary)

No other historical figure has come anywhere near leaving a social footprint as large and distinct as that of Jesus Christ - despite His humble beginnings. Jesus lived in a backwater district of a long-dead empire almost 2,000 years ago. He never held a political office, He worked as a common laborer for most of His life and was executed as a criminal after a court case that lasted less than twelve hours.

Many thousands of lives throughout history have met a similar end and yet none of them were remembered even one generation later. The contrast is mind boggling. Fast-forward 2,000 years and the name of Jesus Christ is known in every region of the world; He is worshiped as Divine by over 2 billion followers.

The claims put forward by His disciples in the aftermath of His execution were extraordinary, yet His followers went to their own deaths refusing to withdraw these shocking assertions. The disciples stuck to their story through persecutions that are unimaginable to the modern mind. They received no worldly power, wealth or acclaim in return. The fruits of their labor were suffering, ridicule and death.

Even skeptics and atheists must admit: the life of Jesus Christ is a story without equal, an event the likes of which has never been paralleled.

What is baffling however, is that so many well-intentioned believers attempt to reduce Jesus’ story down to a quaint little nursery rhyme. They condense the entirety of His teachings down to two words: ‘be nice.’ They want us to picture Jesus in a Hawaiian shirt patterned with peace signs and flowers in His hair.

As nice as Jesus may have been at times, you don’t suffer the death He suffered for politely asking people to be nice to each other. As loving as Jesus could be, nursery rhymes don’t end in crucifixion. Jesus was a rebel. His teachings were revolutionary. His followers were zealots. Jesus was the original savage.

Not buying it? Let’s open our Bibles and try to picture ‘Hippy Jesus’ saying some of the following:

·  Questioning your faith? Better not mention it to your kids, or else: “… it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

·  Or remember that time one of the disciples wanted to bury his deceased father and Jesus’ advice was, “Let the dead bury the dead.” (Matthew 8:22)

·  Or that other time, when Jesus assured us that sinners would be thrown ‘into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 13:50)

·  Are you having trouble overcoming temptation? Jesus has some advice for you: try cutting off your hand and gouging out your eye! (Mark 9:43)

These events are not in isolation. Jesus once called his best friend Satan. He promised to bring ‘not peace but a sword,’ and to set the world on fire, to turn fathers against their sons and mothers against their daughters. He told one of His followers that he would have been better off if he’d never been born.

Jesus was a radical and His message was polarizing. In John 6, we see many of His followers abandon Him because His teachings were ‘hard.’ If you aren’t made uncomfortable by the gospels, then you haven’t read them thoroughly enough. If the only message you take away from the gospel is that we all need to be nice to each other, then you have the wrong perception of Jesus. Jesus wasn’t a tree hugging flower child.

Jesus was the original savage.