Lk 12:49-56: Gentle Jesus meek and mild?
You will probably recall that famous Anglican hymn writer Charles Wesley’s hymn that start with the words “Gentle Jesus meek and mild”
I have a great respect for John and Charles Wesley but I would have to say
You have to be kidding - as we see in the Gospel today!!
Jesus is anything but gentle, meek and mild as our Gospel reading today shows
Story: At the very start of his ministry in Florence, Savonarola the Italian political reformer (1452-1498) noticed an elderly woman who used to come and pray regularly before that statue of the Virgin Mary.
One day, Savonarola took an elderly priest aside, who had been serving in the cathedral for many years, and said,
"Look how devoted this woman is. She comes every day to offer prayers to the blessed Mother of Jesus. What a marvellous act of faith."
But the elderly priest replied
"Do not be deceived by what you see. Many
years ago when the sculptor needed a model
to pose for this statue of the blessed Mother,
he hired a beautiful young woman to sit for him.
This devout worshiper you see here everyday is
that young woman.
She is worshiping who she used to be."
And in the same way, the Jesus we think we are worshipping in the 21st Century is not the true
Jesus that we find in Holy Scripture.
Some preachers focus on “his love for
mankind” – forgetting that he called us to
repent of our sins and follow him wholeheartedly.
We focus on the two Great Commandments –
• to love God and
• to love our neighbour
and find that so comforting
Darrel Brock in the NIV Application Commentary on Luke summed modern thinking up about Jesus by saying this
“He came as the ultimate peacemaker, who sought peace at any cost.
He never challenged anyone other than to call for love and tolerance.
As a teacher of wisdom and a teller of parables, Jesus did not force people into hard choices; or if he did, it had nothing to do with his own person only with the need for Israel to reform ethically.”
But this is not the Jesus of Scripture.
Scot McKnight said this about the modern view of Jesus – expressed in the Jesus Seminar said this
“Such a Jesus
would never have been crucified,
would never have drawn the fire he did,
would never have commanded the following he did,
and
would never have created a movement that still shakes the world”
In his day Jesus was very controversial
Jesus’ teachings were in their day revolutionary, because he exposed a corrupt society.
He exposed hypocrites members of the Jewish religious elite and this was not popular
What is interesting is that he started with the Church of his day and not the Roman oppressors.
Jesus’ ministry was prophesied from his birth as being controversial
Before Jesus was even born, his mother Mary realised that.
You may recall that on the day of His Dedication to God in the Temple the old prophet Simeon held Jesus in his arms and said :
31 “Lord,” he said, “now I can die content! For I have seen the Saviour you have given to the world as you promised I would
32 He is the Light that will shine upon the nations, and he will be the glory of your people Israel!”
(We Anglicans know this saying as the Nunc Dimittis)
Then Simeon looked at Mary and said,
“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35)
Luke’s account of Jesus’ ministry begins in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth.
And even then there was controversy.
There Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah that day, and the congregation was so incensed by what he said that they drove him out of town and tried to throw him over a cliff. (Luke 4:16-30).
Jesus hated hypocrisy.
We read in Luke 13.10-17 how Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath.
And the leaders in the Synagogue were indignant saying that there are six days in a week to heal instead of rejoicing that the woman was healed.
In reply Jesus doesn’t mince his words
“You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Jesus obviously didn’t subscribe to Dale Carnegie’s book “How to make friends and influence people”
And his boldness didn’t make Jesus many friends in the religious hierarchy.
But it wasn’t just what Jesus said but also the company he kept.
No rabbi should be seen dead with
i) Prostitutes like Mary Magdalene or
ii) Collaborators like Matthew the Tax Collector or
iii) Zealots (they were 1st century terrorists) like Simon the Zealot
to name a few of Jesus 12 apostles and close women friends who were considered beyond the pale in the Jewish religious establishment’s eyes..
In fact what Jesus said and did annoyed them so much that they decided they had to get rid of him
We read in Matthew 26 that as a result of Jesus teaching
3 Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.” (Mt 26.3-5)
If Jesus was persecuted, then we as his disciples can expect similar things to happen to us, of we truly follow Christ
Being a Christian can still be costly.
Story: In an article in The Conversation this is what they said about recent attacks on Christians.
The International Christian Concern, in a report on 15 May 2022, described Nigeria as the world’s scariest country in which to be a Christian.
The report argued that:
Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year long genocide.
Attacks appear to be escalating.
In early June 40 worshippers were killed in a church attack in Owo, Ondo state,
south-west Nigeria.
Only this year (2025) have the Nigerian authorities prosecuted five men for murder
The BBC reported that by the middle of 2022 there had already been 23 attacks on church premises and people linked to them.
This was compared with 31 attacks in 2021, and 18 in 2020.
And more than 4,650 Nigerian Christians had been killed for their faith in 2021.
(https://theconversation.com/christians-in-nigeria-feel-under-attack-why-its-a-complicated-story-186853)
And this is still going on in 2025. For example on Sunday 13th April 2025, Open Doors reported that 43 people were killed in a Christian community in Bassa. Several houses were burnt down with people inside
The challenge of the Gospel is that following Christ can be costly
As we preach the Gospel in our communities persecution may come our way just as it did for Jesus.
Jesus’ challenge to us is ” Are we up for it?”
