How Jesus Treated People

Has there been over the past thirty or so years a difference in the way Americans treat each other? Are we often inconsiderate of our neighbors and friends? When you are entering the courthouse or the post office or some business, do you witness anyone's opening the door for others? I was in line at a bookstore recently when a man walked to the head of the line without taking notice of the people who were waiting to pay for their books. Is that an isolated incident or does it happen regularly? I have raised these questions to introduce my topic for today, "How Jesus Treated People."

Before we learn from the New Testament the way our Lord treated men, women and children, let us first examine what he taught about our treatment of others. Two of the beatitudes provide some insight into the way Christians are supposed to relate to their fellowmen. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Mt. 5:7). If we want others to show mercy to us, should we not show mercy to others? "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Mt. 5:9). How many times do we agitate and irritate others when we ought to use every opportunity to promote peace in all relationships?

We know both from experience and from reading the Bible that conflicts and disagreements arise in all human relationships. Our Lord told his disciples: "You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them who curse you, do good to them who hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends his rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the publicans so" (Mt. 5:43-47)? If we treated our enemies as our Lord urged his followers to do, we would lose all, or at least, most of our enemies. They would become our friends.

The Golden Rule has probably been quoted more often than any other New Testament passage when we are studying what the Bible teaches about human relationships. Jesus urged his disciples: "Therefore all things you would that men should do unto you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Mt. 7:12). What would applying this rule to our families, to our business associates, to our clients, to our customers and to our friends do for the atmosphere of our homes and communities? For example, if a husband always treated his wife as he wants to be treated, would she ever want to divorce such a man?

There is much more in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about the treatment of others, but for the remainder of our time, let us examine the way Jesus treated people. The gospel according to Matthew uses the word "compassion" (splanknizomai in the Greek) of Jesus. Matthew says: "Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." Please notice Matthew's comment: "But when he saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd" (Mt. 9:35-36). Matthew records our Lord's feeding an enormous number of people with seven loaves of bread and a few little fish. Thousands of people had flocked to hear him and to witness the miracles he performed. "Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now for three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way" (Mt. 15:32). Compassion is one of the keys to understanding our Lord's dealing with others.

Radical feminists often criticize New Testament Christianity because they seem to believe that Jesus and his apostles discriminated against women. It is true that the New Testament assigns certain roles to men in the church and in the home. Men are to be the leaders in the home (Eph. 5:23) and in the church (1 Tim. 2:8-12). But different roles for men and women do not mean that Christ and the apostles thought of women as being inferior or as second class citizens. The truth is: No teacher in all the world's existence has done more to elevate and to liberate women than our Lord Jesus Christ. I am willing to defend that proposition anywhere at anytime against anyone.

The apostle John records a meeting between Jesus Christ and a Samaritan woman. John says that Jesus "left Judea and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria" (John 4:3-4). Why did he have to go through Samaria? There were other ways Christ could have traveled between Judea and Galilee. He went through Samaria because of his interest in the Samaritan people. Our Lord became tired and needed rest and water. He came to Jacob's well and sat down. While he was resting and refreshing himself, a woman of Samaria came to the well to draw water. Jesus asked the woman to give him a drink. The woman was obviously surprised and probably troubled that a Jew would ask her for anything. She asked Christ, "How is it "that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?" The apostle John commented: "For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:6-9).

Did Christ know about the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans? You know he did. John had earlier said: "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them (that is, unto the Jews), because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (John 2:24-25). As a rule, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, and certainly not with Samaritan women. But Jesus did not share the biased views of his countrymen. To our Lord, the Samaritan woman was a precious soul who needed to hear the truth about God almighty. Christ taught her about the kind of worship God demanded of his people (John 4:20-24).

We must remember that not only was the Samaritan a woman; she was an immoral woman. Christ urged her to go call her husband. She confessed that she did not have a husband. Jesus said to her, "You have well said, I have no husband: for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: in that you have said truly" (John 4:16-18). Would you and I waste our time talking with a woman who had had five husbands and was currently living with another man? If we have the same concern for the lost that Jesus had, the answer must be YES. All souls are precious in the sight of God almighty.

One of our Lord's most unusual encounters was with a group of Jewish men who accused a woman of committing adultery. "The scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do you say? This they said, tempting him, that they might accuse him" (John 8:3-6). We could raise a great number of questions concerning this incident. For example, was the woman actually guilty of adultery or had the scribes and Pharisees invented the charges against her to see how Jesus would react? If the woman were actually caught in the act of adultery, what about the man involved? Why did not the Jews bring the man to Jesus? After all, it is ridiculous to accuse a woman of committing adultery by herself.

How did Christ treat the men who were so obviously hypocritical? Our Lord stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he had not heard the accusations against the woman. They kept pressuring Christ to give them an answer. He stood up and said to the men, "He who is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. He again stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it (what Jesus said), being convicted by their own consciences, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst" (John 8:6-9). By his actions and by his words, Jesus convicted the scribes and Pharisees of being hypocrites. He would not—indeed could not—allow the men to get by with their blatant hypocrisy.

How did Christ treat the woman? It is not unusual to hear people affirm that Jesus did not condemn the woman's immoral lifestyle. There is a serious problem with that view: It is not true. He asked the woman, "Where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?" She replied, "No man, Lord. And he said unto her, Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more" (John 8:10-11). Christ did not condemn the woman to be stoned to death, but he strongly opposed her sin. Is it not true that Jesus hated the sin but loved the sinner?

It does need to be emphasized that Christ had many contacts with women. He healed women just as he healed men. He also traveled with women who actually helped to bear some of the expenses Christ and his apostles experienced. But none of his relationships with women shows greater gentleness and generosity than the way he treated Martha and Mary, the sisters of his friend Lazarus. Christ often traveled to Bethany to rest and to relax with Lazarus and with his sisters. John 11 tells of the sickness of Lazarus. We are all familiar with the death and the resuscitation of Lazarus. No incident in the life of Christ shows his humanity more than his reactions to the death of Lazarus. John says that Christ groaned in his spirit and was troubled. He then comments: "Jesus wept" (John 11:34-35). There is much more to the story of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, but I shall have to defer it to another time.

How teachers and others react to children provides insight into their concern for their fellowmen. Many of us, including preachers and other religious leaders, may not have much time for children. That was not true of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the people brought children to Jesus so he would bless them. The disciples rebuked the people for bringing their children. Christ was much displeased with the attitude of his disciples. He said to the disciples: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them" (Mk. 10:13-16).

There is no doubt that our Lord loved all people—men, women and children. At the house of Cornelius, the apostle Peter affirmed about Christ: He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). But we must realize that Jesus did not and could not condone sin in anyone, even in his own disciples. Do you remember the incident involving the sons of Zebedee—James and John? According to Luke's account, Jesus "steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they (the Samaritans) did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?" Jesus turned and rebuked them: "You know not what manner of spirit you areof. For the Son of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Lk. 9:51-56).

The apostle Peter sometimes spoke when he should have been listening. For example, when Christ and the disciples had eaten a meal together, Christ rose from the meal, laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. He poured some water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet. Peter said to our Lord, "Thou shalt never wash my feet." Christ answered, "If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me. Simon Peter says unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head" (John 13:4-9). Is there any doubt in your mind that Christ loved the apostle Peter in spite of the apostle's impetuosity?

On another occasion, the chief priests and elders came to arrest Christ. The apostle Peter took his sword and cut off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. Jesus said to the apostle Peter: "Put up your sword into the sheath: the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it" (John 18:10-11)? Mathew adds: "For all who take the sword shall perish with the sword. Do you think I could not pray to the Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels" (Mt. 26:52-53)? Christ dearly loved the apostle Peter, but his love for him did not keep him from rebuking him for his behavior. On the contrary, Christ's love for Peter demanded that he correct him for conduct unbecoming a follower of Christ.

I have outlined some of Christ's teachings about our treatment of others. I have given you some examples of Christ's treatment of women, of children and of his own disciples. Let us now review the way Christ treated some of the Jewish people of his day. Much of Christ's preaching had been done in the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Matthew says: "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent: Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works that were done in you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the land of Sodom, than for you" (Mt. 11:20-24). The people in first century Palestine knew the reputation of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom. They knew Jesus was not being complimentary of the moral and spiritual values of his contemporaries when he compared them to those ancient cities. But Jesus severely upbraided or reproached them because they needed to hear the truth. Nothing but the truth could set them free.

Christ's message to the Jewish leaders made him one of the most unpopular prophets who ever lived. I urge you to read Matthew 23 to learn how strongly Jesus opposed the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. Please listen to this brief excerpt from that chapter. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the graves of the righteous. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore you are witnesses unto yourselves, that you are the children of them who killed the prophets. Fill up the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell" (Mt. 23:29-33)? How long would a preacher like Jesus or John the Baptist or the apostle Paul last in many modern churches? Figuratively, they would be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail or maybe not so figuratively.

Do you remember how Jesus concluded his severe criticism of the scribes and Pharisees? "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets, and stone them who are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not" (Mt. 23:37)! Jesus never wanted anyone to be lost. He knew some people would not listen to tender appeals, like the great invitation: "Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I my meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Mt. 11:28-30). Sometimes our Lord had to use strong language to awaken people to their sinful condition, but his goal always was to bring them into the fold.

Those who desire to have God's approval must learn to treat others as Christ treated men, women and children. We must never manifest a holier-than-thou attitude. We must strive to treat others—whether Christians or otherwise—as Christ would treat them. A few verses from the epistles will confirm what I have just said. Paul charged the Roman Christians: "Let love be without dissimulation (or hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is God. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another" (Rom. 12:9-10). The same apostle urged the early Christians: "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in your which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:3-5). "Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32).

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334