Finding Your Way In Christ

What Was Jesus Really Like?

Published December 31, 2014.

I originally wrote this post in April 2013. It's pretty much untouched now, except for a couple grammar/formatting changes I made. This is a wonderful post and really reflects many of the things God was showing me at this time. Hope this really helps you, whatever your story and background is. :)

-Langston

. . .

One of my favorite authors, Rick Riordan, says that he doesn't watch the movie adaptations of his books because he doesn't want the movie to change the way he sees his characters. (Which is great, because if I were him and saw what Hollywood did to his bestselling book, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, I'd probably scream and tear my hair out.)

So this got me thinking: do the way movies (and society in general) portray Jesus change the way we see Him? How accurate is the movie Jesus vs. the Man actually described on paper? It's a pretty valid saying that the original book is almost always better than the movie. Usually, the movie version shifts things around and ruins the characters somehow--"tweaking" the characters to make them "cooler" or to fit how the producers or directors think they should be represented (which ironically ends up misrepresenting them). The book character may end up unrecognizable on the screen, along with anywhere else that version of the character shows up. I think the same thing has happened to Jesus.

This probably raises the question of which versions of Jesus are wrong and which ones areally right. Well, a couple weeks ago, I read through the book of Mark, reading to learn what Jesus was really like and how his personality was. The result is what you're about to read below: 13 characteristics of Jesus.

Authoritative

Then they went into Capernaum, and right away He [Jesus] entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority. Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out, "What do You have to do with us, Jesus — Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God! "

But Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit convulsed him, shouted with a loud voice, and came out of him.

Then they were all amazed, so they began to argue with one another, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." News about Him then spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee. (Mark 1:21-27, HCSB) (emphasis by me)

Authoritative means to act as if one has authority, and this is exactly what we see from Jesus in the passage above. When Jesus spoke, He spoke with confidence and power. He knew what He was talking about; He knew what He was dealing with. Jesus is loving and understanding when He needs to be, but He has rightful authority and--as the passage shows above--is not afraid to display it. (Also see Mark 4:35-41, Mark 6:7)

Healer and exorcist

As soon as they [Jesus, Simon and Andrew] left the synagogue, they went into Simon and Andrew's house with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them. When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all those who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. The whole town was assembled at the door, and He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him. . . . So He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. (Mark 1: 29-34, 39)