Jesus argued, Jesus went against the grain of the religious establishment, Jesus questioned the motives of spiritual greats of His day, Jesus drove people out of church with a whip He made Himself, Jesus called the Pharisees a brood of vipers, He said His family was not His family, He cursed a fig tree for not having fruit in season, He refused to answer certain questions posed to Him, asked His followers why they had so little faith, harshly rebuked a follower for wanting to protect Him, and put pressure on His disciples to dig deep within.
Jesus was not a nice man. He was KIND. In all that He did, He showed KINDNESS.
I forgot to mention that Jesus also called a group of ministers a brood of vipers, told a woman begging for her daughter’s life that He does not help dogs, and asked His disciples “How long do I have to put up with you?”
Jesus was not nice and is not nice. Say that out loud several times. Difficult isn’t it? We are so accustomed to thinking about Jesus as this really white toast, syrupy, nice guy. That is the wrong image.
Jesus was kind. There is a huge difference between nice and kind. Nice is the word you use when it is so bland you can find no other word for it.
Kind is a different story. In scripture kind means benevolence with action and to do what is suitable and/or fitting to a need. Nice as we use it is not even found in scripture.
A Nice Jesus would have never died, only felt sorry that we were dead in our sins. A Kind Jesus was moved by deep compassion and went to the cross for us.
Stop being so nice!
