Getting to know our Rabbi

Which one of these pictures fits best with your idea of Jesus?

I think for a lot of people, the first picture is what generally comes to mind when the name Jesus is mentioned. This type of Jesus is what I like to call "Swedish Ski Team Jesus," and in truth, it is nothing like what Jesus would have actually looked like if we compare him to other Jews of his day. The second picture is probably very close to what he would have looked like, and certainly much closer than the first. The second image was created using computer graphics, and was based off an unearthed male Jewish skull from around the time that Jesus lived.

Generally, after pointing something like this out, people ask me, so what? Why does it matter what we picture Jesus looking like?

I think it matters A LOT to our relationship with Jesus, because things like this effect the way that we follow Him and our understanding of our faith in general. One of the most important aspects of being a good disciple is KNOWING your Rabbi and being able to live like he does and emulate him. Being a disciple means allowing yourself to be shaped by your Rabbi and becoming more like him every day. Being "covered in the dust of your Rabbi" is a well-known phrase in the Middle East, and it comes from the idea that a good disciple will follow his Rabbi so closely to hear what he says and learn from him that by the end of the day he/she will be covered in the dust that His Rabbi kicks up. How can we be like Jesus, our great Rabbi, if we don't know anything about the culture that He lived in, the customs of His time, what people thought of Him, the things He did during the day, what His interactions were like, His thoughts on the Torah, how His listeners interpreted his parables and teachings, etc., etc., etc.? The two pictures are just a small example of the fact that quite possibly we don't know the real Jesus at all.

And we can't BE LIKE someone that we don't know anything tangible about. Truthfully, it seems that in the Western World we just assume that Jesus grew up in a world exactly like ours, and so we also assume that we can completely understand Him through our own worldview. We have lifted Him out of His setting and plunked Him into our own, making Him into something that we can understand easily. In essence, we have made him simple and we have made Him safe, two things that Jesus most certainly is not. We have made Jesus into an image of ourselves, which then makes it easier to follow him within the boundaries of our own demands and desires. In a sense, it is a very subtle but very powerful form of idolatry. If we continue to see Jesus as a Swedish Ski Team Captain walking around with flowing hair, all soft and vulnerable, then we will never really know Him, we will never be able to really follow Him, and worst of all, we can never be like Him.

And that scares me, because we are called to be like Him. It is our one job. What happens if we do it wrong, or not at all? Not only that, but our version takes away from who Jesus was to such a degree that I don't know why we would want to see Him our way anyway.

Here are a few examples of things we can learn about Jesus by putting Him back into His own background and setting.

-Jesus was a Jewish man from Galilee. Galileans were known to be more laid-back and lighthearted than their Jewish brothers from Judea. They were also known to be less legalistic than Judeans, a description that fits Jesus well.
-Jesus was a Rabbi, which means that He was at the top of His class at school. Only the most competent students were allowed to continue their studies after a certain age. Most young men after a set amount of schooling would learn their father's trade. Jesus was one of the brightest and the best. He most likely knew the Torah by heart and most of the Psalms and prophets as well. He was fiercely intelligent and disciplined. He loved the Word of God. He asked good questions (a trait of a good Rabbi AND a good disciple. Next time you read the gospels, notice how often Jesus answers a question with a question). He studied vigorously.
-Jesus was often asked if he was Elijah come back to earth. This most-likely means that He was very passionate (the fact that people thought He was Elijah attests to that, since Elijah is thought to be the most strong-willed and passionate prophet of all Israel's history, so Jesus' comparison to Him tells us a lot about His character).
-Jesus was often butting heads with the Pharisees and Sadducees. This is because He challenged their authority and the laws they had set forth, something that very few did. The Pharisees were extremely knowledgeable on the Law and even more so on the "traditions" (the additions to the Law made by past Rabbis). They were so learned that it was probably very hard for someone to debate with them, another fact attesting to Jesus' incredible understanding of the Law and His knowledge of the traditions of His time. This also shows that Jesus was teaching new ideas, and that a lot of His teaching was different than what most people were hearing.
-Jesus healed on the Sabbath. To the Pharisees, honoring the Sabbath was one of the most important laws that God had given, and they had built many of their own on top of it in order to protect it. The fact that Jesus was willing to heal ("work") on the Sabbath says an incredible amount to Jesus' stance on the legalism of the day. To most Pharisees, healing on the Sabbath was one of the worst crimes you could commit, some even thought worse than murder. Jesus, by healing on the Sabbath, showed that He put importance on God's Law, and that the traditions of the Rabbi's that had been built on top of that were not the authority. To Jesus, loving your neighbor by healing was much more important than following the tradition of "not working" on the Sabbath. In His time, it was an important act and a different take on scripture than many of the Pharisees of his day.
- Jesus was a "tekton." Tekton can either mean Carpenter or stonemason, and since most work was with stone in Jesus' day, he was most likely a stonemason more than anything else. Next time you read, notice how Jesus is always noticing structural aspects of the buildings and using stone masonry and building in his parables.
-Jesus got tired. Jesus was human, and often had to be go off somewhere by Himself to be refreshed by the Lord. Being a Rabbi, and a good one at that, He spent much of His time traveling around, teaching in synagogues, and healing the sick. He gave of Himself incredibly and selflessly, but He also knew His boundaries. He also knew that He could not pour out onto others that which God had not poured into Him first, and so he was constantly getting away to spend time with the Lord and be filled.
- Jesus met people on their level. Jewish scholars and historians alike attest to the fact that Jesus was one of the greatest story-tellers that ever walked this earth. His parables were simple but powerful, and filled full with multiple layers of truth. Jesus had an incredible skill at creating parables of depth. Most importantly though, Jesus spoke to people with examples that they could understand. He packed hard and deep ideas into stories from every day life, ensuring that people would understand and remember His teachings. He knew His audience, and shaped His teachings to things they could relate to. Out of everything, I believe that this was one of Jesus' most important strengths, and something that the church today does not excel at. We have "church-speak," but very little language that relates to the World in ways they understand. Jesus was excellent at this, probably because He knew how important relating to people was when attempting to get to a deeper level with them.
- Jesus was a Revolutionary. In His time, Jesus was looked at as someone who was going against the general thought of the people. He was leading a new movement, and one that was contrary to much of the assumptions of the day. He claimed to be Messiah near the end of His life, but in a way that no one expected. Instead of being a political Messiah like everyone expected and desired, Jesus came as the sacrificial lamb. He taught that the meek shall inherit the earth, and that the Son of Man must die to bring about the Kingdom. These ideas were nothing like what the Jews had assumed the Messiah would be. They wanted power over Rome. They wanted freedom now. They wanted control and a nation of their own. But Jesus came to bring life to all nations through His own death. He, the teacher, would become the servant. He, the Master, would wash His disciples feet. He, the Son of God, would die on a cross on Passover as the shofar blew for the afternoon sacrifice. Jesus completely flipped the model and changed the whole concept of what King meant, what the Kingdom of God would look like, and who would be a part of it. He was different, unexpected, and revolutionary for His time (and ours). In the words of Phillip Yancey, "If Jesus had never lived, we would have never been able to invent Him." It is His difference within the setting and time that He lived and the unexpectedness of His message that is so striking.

OK, so that's a lot of information for one sitting. But this list is just the tip of the iceberg. This is just the beginning of what there is to find out about who Jesus was (and is). And remember, Jesus is forever the same. He was, is, and is to come. So if you want to know Jesus now, you need to know Jesus then. And despite what most think, Jesus is relevant today, and understanding Him in a real setting (like biblical times) in a real place (like Israel), dealing with real people (like Judaens and Galileans and Pharisees and Herodians and Essenes, etc.), helps us see and understand that.

Lastly, be proud! You are a disciple of the greatest Rabbi that ever walked this earth. You follow this great teacher, Jesus, by His invitation. You have the ability and the access to be taught by this wise man every day.

And most of all, this kind, passionate Jewish teacher loves you and wants you to know Him as much as He knows you. He wants your company, and if you get to know Him even at all, I guarantee that you will want His as well.