There is No Comparison to the Derision that Jesus Spoke and the Satire Men Speak

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Sep 26, 2012 at 19:16

There are indeed places in the Gospels in which Jesus made pointed remarks to the various positions of disbelief, from the mild retorts to those whom He saw as legitimate questioners of the religious mores of the time, to the responses directed towards the blasphemous hypocrites in which His righteous indignation was fueled by the deep seated animosities the religious leaders had for His redress of their unbelief.

We read in Luke 20-:19) And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people--for they knew He had spoken this parable against them. Their intentions are displayed in the following exchange in which Jesus answered the high priest's inquiry with a question and they responded by hitting Him; (John 18:33) Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?"

In matter of fact, His responses from the perfect mind are what fueled their hatred towards Him and became the basis of their plots to kill Him. But is that sufficient for we who are mere mortals, who have no way of knowing what is in mortal minds, to try and engage in similar conduct when clearly after His crucifixion we are called to different conduct?

We are admonished in James 1:6) "If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless." Similarly, Peter tells us (1Peter 3:10) For "He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.

We might further examine some of the proverbs that address the issue of when certain types of speech are appropriate and when we should keep silence before the instruction of the LORD; Proverbs 12:18) There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.

It is suggested here that Yeshua has all the qualifications of being able to search out men's' minds and provide a word of truth in its season, the rest of us in our mortal frame to be more cautious in what we say; for an accounting will be required for every idle word.

Can any of us say our thoughts and following words are perfectly formed, whether in satire or in sobriety, in the same manner as Jesus? Even in the pride that might provide some form of mortal acknowledgment of being able to respond like Jesus puts us in an untenable situation and would be cause for incitement of a different order.

Better that our words from the frame of the Gospel are spoken to enlighten and bring a sober word of truth than engage in the lack of elocution that seems to be the world's failure to deal with the truth of Almighty God and His only begotten Son.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".