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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
Jesus: History's Greatest Failure?
Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion, and Luke records His words:
“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished,” Luke 18:31.
Weeks later, just before He ascended to “the right hand of God”, He described His mission as “fulfilled,” Luke 24:44. Both His words and His actions indicate that His work on earth was the fulfillment of all things God had planned for Him from before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 3:8-11.
These things being true, how can anyone suggest that Jesus failed in His tasks, that He was a “failure”?
By what definition could someone describe Jesus as a “failure”? He may have been a “failure” in the eyes of some, but in God’s eyes, He was just what He was supposed to be.
In athletics, a player may accomplish great things only to be regarded as a failure if he does not lead his team to a championship. Again, our definition of “failure” is at the heart of our discussion. Was Jesus a failure in the sight of God? Or did He succeed in doing exactly what God had appointed Him to do?
To the Pharisees and others who looked for a political/military leader in their Messiah, Jesus was a failure because He did not meet their expectations. Instead of delivering them from Roman oppression, Jesus sought to deliver them from the bondage of sin. Instead of attacking the “publicans and sinners,” Jesus said the Pharisees were hypocrites and the Sadducees were ignorant of God’s Law (Luke 12, Matthew 22). Because He did not fulfill their expectations, they regarded Jesus as a failure. To His Father, however, Jesus was the “Prince of Peace.”
As a preacher, many would consider Jesus a failure. He was far too bold for some. He was far too aggressive and outspoken. He did not seek man’s approval, but God’s. He opposed things they advocated, and advocated things they opposed. That will make you a “failure” in any man’s company.
He dwelt far too much on negative topics such as adultery, materialism and disobedience. To many Jews in that day, the Messiah’s greatest task was to relieve them from the taxes and oppression of Rome. But Jesus told them to pay their taxes (Matthew 22:15-22) and refrain from hypocrisy and greed (Luke 12). Jesus was a failure if judged by man’s standards. But by God’s standard, “His name shall be called Wonderful.”
Some regard Judas’ betrayal and Simon Peter’s denial as an indication of Jesus’ failure as a man. True, when Jesus spoke “hard” sayings, some “went back and walked no more with him,” John 6:66. However, we must remember that we, too, balk at some of His “hard” sayings, but the failure is ours, not His.
Jesus was a failure socially if we use today’s cultural standards. He grew up in a respected trade as a carpenter, still He owned no home, no property, and had no formal education (Matthew 8:20, John 7:15).
Many of His friends were outcasts of society, and even His own brothers rejected Him, refusing to believe that He was God’s Son (Matthew 9:9, John 7:3-5). His real following did not consist of the elite in their society, but came from among the “common people” (Mark 12:37).
In many ways Jesus failed to meet man’s expectations, being “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53:3). On the cross, however, hanging in the most shameful, degrading way a person could experience, Jesus was still able to cry out, “it is finished” (John 19:30).
Though He angered and befriended the “wrong” people, and though He died a shameful death making “His grave with the wicked” (Isaiah 53:9), He redeemed us from Satan, paid the price for our sin, established His Kingdom and shed His blood for all mankind. Who among us today can even come close to succeeding as Jesus did?
When all is considered, and God’s will for man examined, Jesus is truly worthy to be called “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), and “Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16). He was exactly what prophecy said He would be, and fulfilled completely the prophecy of Isaiah spoken of Him seven centuries before His birth:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Jesus – a failure? Perhaps we need more effort at being faithful than being a success. One man wrote: “All men have failed, He never. He is the ever perfect one. He is my Savior.”
Carl B. Garner
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“These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
“It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible.”
“Those who are prepared to die for a cause are rarely defeated.”
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Being Disliked
In some ways, those who dislike us are our best friends. They teach us caution. They are an exterior conscience to warn us against indiscretions and imprudence. We do not learn prudence from those who profess to love us.
Dislike is always honest, for no one hopes to gain our favors through dislike as someone might by professing friendship. Dislike is sobering; it makes us recognize that there may be something about us which provokes dislike. It may be a carelessness about our appearance, a flaw in our personality, a thoughtlessness in our attitude toward others. Whatever it is, those who dislike us make us aware of it; not our friends. And by making us aware of our shortcomings, they may goad us into trying to overcome them.
And there is something consoling in knowing that someone dislikes us. It shows that we are important enough to attract the attention of someone who has no reason to be our friend.
There is always a challenge in being disliked -- a challenge to make ourselves a better person so that our enemy may one day wonder if he is mistaken.
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