Walking With Christ

The rebukes of Jesus. What God rebukes STAYS rebuked.

Just kidding. That flies in the face of growth, forgiveness, and grace. Still, a rebuke by Jesus has some sting to it. Other than the words directly from God, the Father, the words of Jesus are absolutely the most important words in the entire bible. Jesus had a lot to say about a lot of things. I’ve been studying the rebukes of Jesus in the bible and found it to be quite an interesting study.

Keep in mind that this list isn’t nearly exhaustive because I’m not even close to a bible scholar.

1. The cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum for not repenting – Matthew 11:20-24
a. Duplicate for Capernaum: Luke 10:13-15
2. Pharisees and Teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy and legalism – Matthew 23 (various verses)
3. The Pharisees for asking for a sign from heaven through skepticism and doubt – Matthew 16:1-4
a. Duplicate: Mark 8:11-12
4. Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy – Luke 11:42-44
5. The Temple merchants and money changers – Matthew 21:13
a. Duplicates: Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:14-16
6. Disciples for their lack of faith during a storm – Matthew 8:26
a. Duplicates: Mark 4:40, Luke 8:25
7. Disciples for preventing children from coming to Him – Matthew 19:14
a. Duplicates: Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16
8. Disciples for arguing about who was the greatest – Luke 9:46-48
a. Similar theme: Mark 9:33-37
9. Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus for being slow to believe – Luke 24:25
10. Peter, James, and John for falling asleep in Gethsemane – Matthew 26:40-41
a. Duplicates: Mark 14:37-38, Luke 22:45-46
11. Peter for cutting off the servant’s ear – John 18:10-11
a. Mention without direct rebuke: Luke 22:50-51, where Jesus heals the servant but does not directly rebuke Peter in the text.
12. James and John for their desire to call down fire on a Samaritan village – Luke 9:54-55
13. Judas Iscariot (implicitly) for his impending betrayal – Matthew 26:25
a. Duplicates: Mark 14:21, Luke 22:21-22, John 13:27-28
14. Peter for his doubt while walking on water – Matthew 14:31
15. Peter for rebuking Jesus – Matthew 16:23
a. Duplicate: Mark 8:33

You can study the things that Jesus makes a point of correcting and get a fairly clear picture about where the boundaries are. Every single one of these rebukes can be directly related back to one or more of the ten commandments. Each rebuke was a clear attempt to realign the thinking of the other party so that it can back to the way God intended. This effort at correction is the ultimate act of grace through Jesus before the crucifixion. His ministry made a point of highlighting many of the misconceptions that had led to the world being off track, so to speak. Each act of rebuking wasn’t just a criticism of the individual or group but was a push towards spiritual growth, repentance, and true understanding of God’s kingdom and the relationship God desires to have with each of us.
Lack of repentance is a lie saying that forgiveness is not needed.
Hypocrisy is also a lie that says one is above the law, while legalism often uses the law as a weapon to place oneself above another.
Doubt is calling God a liar.
Lack of faith also calls God a liar.
Preventing children (or anyone else) from coming to Jesus, and thus God, is putting oneself above someone else.
Arguing about who is the greatest also attempts to establish a hierarchy where one is above or below another when that power belongs only to God.
Being slow to believe is the same as doubt.
Falling asleep, in this sense, points back to spiritual obedience and priority. Jesus asked them to stay awake and pray as to not fall into temptation. They failed in their commitment which violates the first commandment to put God first. This was less of an indictment of the individual disciples as it was evidence of the fallibility of man.
Cutting of the servant’s ear was an attempt to prevent Jesus from fulfilling His mission because of selfish desires.
Calling down fire or any kind of punishment, especially when not called for, is, in one sense, stealing authority from God by saying that they were in a position to judge which is also a lie.
Betrayal is a massive lie.
Last but not least is rebuking Jesus. Really? Telling the very physical embodiment of God that He is wrong? Really? No wonder Jesus said, “get behind me Satan”. It was through selfish desires that Peter didn’t want to see Jesus suffering. He still didn’t understand the mission.

The ten commandments all point to the reality that God wants to have a relationship with each of us. He wants to be first in our lives (no other gods before Me, no idols). The third commandment (don’t take the Lord’s name in vain) is about cheapening the relationship from the first commandment and is, in one way, a verbal form of violating the second commandment. The fourth commandment is about recognizing that God knows that we will have other things that we really need to do in our lives and that even if He is the first thing we are designed to have other things as well. The rest of the commandments are about how we are to relate to each other through the recognition of our uniquely individual relationships with God that are sometimes very different but no less special or important to Him.

One interesting thing to note is that the doubt of the disciples and the doubt of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples doubted while trying to understand and believe what they were learning. The Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to prove Jesus wrong. There is a completely different tone in how Jesus responds to the two different types of doubt. One group wanted to learn and get closer to Jesus and thus the Father, while the other group just wanted to be right which meant calling God a liar. When Jesus rebuked the doubt of the disciples it was meant as a guidance meant for growth. When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees is was more of a warning. That isn’t to say that the disciples were not being warned in the same way, but rather, the warning was needed much less because the disciples had the desire to go in the right direction even though they couldn’t see what that direction was. The Pharisees were trying to be the shepherd and take over the job of God for the people. That very much violates the first commandment. Jesus wanted to show grace even in His rebukes. For those who accepted the offer of grace, it was freely given. It still left the option to decline the offer and thus take on the punishments and other consequences.