7 Things Jesus Never Said

Bible Study

Audio By Carbonatix

By Mike Leake, Crosswalk.com

I was struck by the sharp contrast in Mark 14 with the anointing at Bethany. Here we have the religious leaders plotting to kill Jesus. Then the scene flips to a woman with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She breaks the jar and pours perfume on Jesus’ head. People in the room get angry at the waste. And then the story ends with going back to the religious leaders wanting to kill Jesus, and for good measure, his friend Lazarus too.

When I preached on this, I made the point that we’ll either bust up our idols for the sake of Jesus, or we’ll try to bust up Jesus for the sake of our idols. I think we see this all over the place. I know I see it in my own heart. One way I see it is the propensity to try to craft Jesus into my own image instead of the other way around.

I think we’ve all got a few things that we imagine Jesus saying that He never actually said. And they might actually be quite contrary to all the things He actually did say. I really think that’s one of the main ways we might try to “bust up” Jesus today. We aren’t bold enough to try to kill Him again, but now we’ll just distort Him until He becomes something He isn’t.

I could have made a much longer list… but here are 7… because that seems like an important number.

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1. “Protect your peace.”

And Jesus also didn’t say, “You’ve got to leave all those toxic relationships!”

I’m kind of mad at myself for writing this, so be easy on me when you push back. I know this one can get pretty dangerous. You might even want to call me toxic for even suggesting this. But can you give me just 2-3 more paragraphs?

There really are people who thrive on drama. There are really unhealthy relationships. And there are situations where creating distance may very well be the wisest thing to do. There are also really dangerous situations… and really dangerous people… who say things very similar to what I just said, so they can gaslight you and keep you in an abusive relationship.

Having said that, it’s also possible to swing the pendulum too far the other way. If I lay “protect your peace” over the New Testament, it just doesn’t seem to line up. It’s hard to say that this is a guiding principle for the life of a follower of Jesus when He told us to “take up our cross”. If you hadn’t noticed…people put Him there. And they put us there, too.

Jesus constantly went towards messy people. He gets interrupted. He stops when others want Him to keep on walking. He’s easily misunderstood. He eats with people who will hurt Him. And He keeps loving people who will be massive disappointments. He made a super-toxic person his treasurer.

I don’t think Jesus is saying that you should intentionally foster unhealthy environments or relationships. And there are times when He said to shake the dust off your feet. And He does give you peace. But His peace is something that is usually shining in the midst of darkness.

I just think we have a tendency to try to shape Jesus into a mold where we imagine Him giving us a thumbs up as we scrape all the difficult stuff and people of our lives and call that holy. And it’s just really hard to totally square that with Jesus saying, “Father, forgive them” as He’s nailed to a cross.

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2. “Your family comes first.”

I’m afraid that with each of these, I’m going to have to bargain with you to stick around. I’m not intending these to be controversial, but the very nature of the article means I’m probably going to be tipping over some sacred cows—unless you just want it to be kind of boring and done a million times.

This one probably sounds strange coming from a Christian article. We talk about putting God first, family second, other things third, etc. And Scripture does talk about loving your spouse, caring for your children, honoring parents, and being a faithful member of your family.

But Jesus never said your family comes first. In fact, He kinda said the opposite. He talked about families being divided because of Him. When His mother and brothers came looking for Him, He pointed to those doing the will of God and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.”

This doesn’t make Jesus anti-family. Family is very good. And following Jesus is definitely going to make you a better husband, wife, father, mom, son, daughter, etc. But sometimes following Jesus is going to create some friction in those relationships. And when that happens, it’s not family that comes first—it’s Jesus. And that can, honestly, be a pretty tough thing to hear.

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3. “You need to find yourself.”

What I mean here is that we’re often told to follow our hearts. And that somewhere deep inside of us is our true self. The goal of life is to discover that person and then have the courage to live authentically. But that’s actually about the opposite of what Jesus actually said.

Jesus talks about losing your life in order to find it. It might be that the self that you’re trying so desperately to express is the very thing Jesus intends to crucify.

But I also don’t want to say this too strongly. I actually do think following Jesus helps you to find your “true self”. The difference is that your true self is who you were created to be. God did make you unique. Your individuality does matter. But it’s not an identity that you have to find somewhere within you, and it's certainly not one you have to create. It’s one that is given to us by God. That is our true self.

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4. “God helps those who help themselves.”

I’ve read a few different stats on this one. One that I saw floating around was that over half of Americans think this is in the Bible. But it’s also worded in a way that people might think it’s “biblical” even if it isn’t a Bible verse. Either way, I don’t think the concept is very biblical either. So I’m going to disagree with half of Americans, I guess.

Jesus never said this. Nor would He say this. Again, He said almost the opposite. The Son of Man came to serve, not to be served. I know that’s not saying exactly the same, but it’s conceptually related. The gospel isn’t that you put in all your grit and effort, and when you inevitably fall short, Jesus fills in the gap a little.

This kind of thinking is like prescribing a Tylenol for a brain aneurysm. Our sin isn’t some minor deal, and we’re just barely falling short. No, we are dead in our sins. We are lost. Helpless. Unable to do anything on our own. All of that. If God helps those who help themselves—we’re in trouble.

That doesn’t make laziness a virtue. We should work hard and to the glory of God. But God seems to be in the business of coming through and rescuing people who really blow it and weren’t working very hard in the first place. Effort doesn’t get you to heaven. Grace does.

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5. “Don’t judge anyone.”

“Now, wait just a second!!!” you’re saying… as you judge my biblical knowledge. Jesus clearly says in the King’s English, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” So I guess you technically can put those words on your coffee mug in red ink.

But what did Jesus mean by judge? Did he mean that you aren’t ever supposed to make any kind of moral or spiritual judgments about things? The Cleveland Browns are really bad at football… usually. Does that mean I’m going to be judged? No, that’s not what he’s saying. Now, if I said, “Every single player on the Cleveland Browns is going to go to hell… not only for the pain they put their fans through, but just because.” Now that’s the kind of judging Jesus is talking about.

Jesus told us that we need to judge prophets by their fruit. There are some judgments He expects us to make. Jesus is going after hypocritical and definitive judgment. He didn’t really say, “Don’t judge anyone.”

6. “The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.”

Ah, man. I’ve actually said this one. I got it from an old professor. He used to say stuff about green grass being in the center of God’s will and stuff like that. And that we’re safest when we’re right where God wants us.

I get the sentiment. And if we define “safe” the right way, it’s probably true. But the early disciples were right in the center of God’s will, and it got them killed. Jesus was definitely in the center of God’s will… and I wouldn’t call what happened to Him as being very safe.

It’s true that often times obedience will keep you out of trouble. But sometimes obedience is precisely the thing that gets you into trouble. Jesus never promised that following Him would be safe. He actually seems to have gone out of His way to make sure His disciples understood the opposite would happen.

7. “You should never let anyone take advantage of you.”

I’m not sure where this one comes from. I think we’ve got this idea that Jesus 100% wants us to be standing up for our rights. And by golly, we ought to also be fighting for them. Tooth and nail. If somebody takes our cloak…then we need to put them in an arm bar. If somebody hits us on one cheek, we'll be sure to wallop them on the other. In love, of course.

I get it, nobody likes being used. Nor should we assume that Jesus is telling somebody they ought to stay in an abusive relationship or keep handing money to every scammer just because they ask for it. There is wisdom.

But Jesus did talk about turning the other cheek and going the second mile. Give to the one who asks you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. It’s hard not to read the Sermon on the Mount and want to raise your hand and say, “Jesus, you realize people are going to take advantage of this, right?”

And I think the answer is probably yes. The Christian life cannot be built around making sure nobody ever gets more from me than they deserve. If it were, grace itself would be thrown out the door.

The Jesus Who Disagrees with You

I hope you’ve stuck with me thus far. And honestly, I hope at least a couple of these rubbed you the wrong way. They do me. Because I, too, like to craft Jesus into my own image. I don’t want to do that, of course, but I’m not yet who I will one day be. God isn’t through with me yet. He’s still shaping me. And that also means He has to keep reshaping my view of Jesus.

Listen, if you’ve haven’t disagreed with Jesus for quite some time, it might not mean what you think it does. Unless you’re perfect, you will definitely encounter things where the way of Jesus doesn’t exactly square with your thoughts, actions, or feelings. If those aren’t being challenged, there is a good chance that you’ve just carved a “Jesus” into your own image.

It’s good to be challenged. And it’s good to have a Jesus who disagrees with you. Somebody that won’t be true… but not because He has changed. It’ll be because we have changed.