Jesus: a very disruptive person. - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 23:5,

"He [Jesus] stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He
started in Galilee and has come all the way here."

When the council of the elders brought Jesus before Pilate for
"justice", Pilate could find no basis for their charge against him.
This is their response to Pilate. They had great concern that Jesus
was stirring up the people. He was disruptive of the established order
of things. Was this true?

Here is a sample of passages that may provide some perspective on their charge:

"All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this
[what Jesus had to say in the synagogue]. They got up, drove him out
of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town
was built, in order to throw him off the cliff." Luke 4:28-29.

"The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to
themselves, 'Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive
sins but God alone?'... Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.
They were filled with awe and said, 'We have seen remarkable things
today.'" Luke 5:21-26.

"He [Jesus] looked around at them all, and then said to the man,
'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and his hand was completely
restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious
and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus."
Luke 6:10-11.

"'Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key
to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered
those who were entering.' When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and
the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege
him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say."
Luke 11:52-54.

"When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people
were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing." Luke
13:17.

No question that the charge Jesus was disruptive was accurate. From
just the first half of Luke's gospel we find multiple accounts of
Jesus challenging the established mindset, the "meme" of day. He
challenged people about their confident perspectives on the things of
God, on their religion, on their way of life. But, this was not
disruption simply for disruption's sake.

Why was Jesus so disruptive? A couple of thoughts come to mind.

When perfection collides with imperfection, the imperfect is bound to
be disrupted. The world, in its collective sinful nature, having
turned its back on God and gone its own way is going to stumble,
stammer and slip into violent perplexity when it encounters its
Creator. Through Isaiah the Lord declared, "'For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" Isaiah 55:8-9. Any
encounter between the Lord and sinful man is going to be disruptive to
man. How could it possibly be any other way?

However, I think something else is going on in the gospel accounts.
Jesus came to offer the kingdom of God. In order to provide folks who
were locked into an encrusted and entrenched mindset an open mind, he
knocked their thinking off kilter. He challenged them. He forced them
to reconsider what they incorrectly thought was true. Going well
beyond all that might be expected, I believe Jesus went to great
lengths to draw people to himself and a part of that was to disrupt
their thought patterns that they might be able to consider the claims
of the gospel and the wonderful invitation he offers over and against
long held erroneous assumptions.

No question in my mind. Jesus was disruptive. For our benefit and with
a clear strategy in mind, he challenged the thinking of the day to
prepare the way for his offer of the kingdom!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com