Pulpit Language, 2 of 4

Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. - Matthew 12:34 HCSB

As we previously saw, Jesus used common, everyday language to deal with people and purposefully eschewed the use of “religious language”, unless pitching His teachings to a group of rabbis. Jesus was often very sarcastic and did not mind insulting the powers that be. He was more than willing to call them fools and deride them for hypocritical behavior. Once, when Jesus was railing on the Pharisees, a teacher of the Law spoke up protesting, “Teacher, when you say these things You insult us too.”

Jesus’ response? “Woe also to you experts in the Law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.”[1] He was quick with the comebacks and certainly didn’t mind making a public nuisance of Himself if He thought it was the right thing to do.[2]

This facility with sarcasm is apparently a family trait. Remember Elijah’s treatment of the false prophets on Mount Carmel? At noon, Elijah mocked them. He said, "Shout loudly, for he's a god! Maybe he's thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he's on the road. Perhaps he's sleeping and will wake up!"[3]

Jesus hung out with the nobodies of his culture. Several of his disciples were sailors, the truck drivers of their day. He ate and drank with the sinners.[4] This earned Him the (falsely applied) accusation of being a drunkard and a glutton.[5] In each case, it was the religious elite with their mellifluous tones, quasi religious justification of hypocrisy and total disregard for true justice who were offended – not Jesus.

As a side note, we need to understand that the Pharisees were not throwing a random insult out. They were not even arguing from the prohibition against close and habitual association with sinners[6] that was designed to protect culturally malleable humans from temptation. They were already trying to establish some legal grounds to have Jesus not only repudiated, but killed. They were using a legal phrase from the Old Covenant’s Halakah in which a son could be accused of systematic, calculated rebellion against authority.[7] They were accusing Jesus of being a consistent rebel against the status quo and in this, they were actually right! He went against the grain, and destroyed every preconception humanity had of what it meant to be religious. Where they thought He should be powerful and commanding, He was meek and lowly and humble of heart. Where they thought He should meekly follow the human-made rules and regulations for maintaining an appearance of sanctity, He was wildly irreverent and bucked the taboos.

[1] Luke 11:45-46
[2] Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15-16
[3] 1 Kings 18:27
[4] Matthew 9:10-13; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:29-32; 7:36-39; 15:1-2
[5] Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34
[6] Proverbs 23:20
[7] Deuteronomy 21:20