By Pastor Matt Parra

There is an aspect of Jesus’s life that is rarely, if ever, discussed but it is one that it is essential for all Christ followers to understand. In Philippians 2:5 we are told, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of NO REPUTATION”. Now there’s the obvious truth that Jesus gave up His lofty position in glory when He became a man. His condescension to become a created being, a full fledged human man, is beyond comprehension, of course. But I want to focus in on how Jesus was viewed, and treated, by many people in His day and why, and how He became a man of no repute, or station, or esteem. What stories were told about Him? Did he receive fair treatment from those who controlled narratives in Israel? 

On one occasion when Jesus was debating some church folks about spiritual heritage they snapped back defensively saying, “we were not born of fornication” John 8:41. To discount His work in Israel some of its leaders claimed that He only did miracles by the power of Beelzebub and even more, they said He was possessed by a demon. Matthew 12:24; John 8:48. This is what they felt about Him and they worked hard to convince others to feel the same. Not only was Jesus not received by “His own” John 1:11, He was actively opposed and maligned by His own.. He was misrepresented, and stigmatized by the men who controlled the religious perspectives of the nation and they would have definitely had an effect on people. This had to be hard for the Son of God. Everywhere you go, everything you do, no matter how much it is evident that God’s Spirit is with you, no matter how much you demonstrate who You are to them, and that you have no desire to make them less, they are there ready to trap you in your words and to place the worst possible constructs on your actions. Behind your back they are plotting, planning, waiting, and spreading rumours about you. And this is all being done with an air of spirituality. With the pretense of care and love for the nation of Israel and for the God they worship. At His trial Jesus stood before the High Priest and when witnesses came and testified, one came to imply that He was an enemy of the Jewish temple because He said “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again”. They were quoting His words correctly but they had placed a false interpretation on them. Do we do this? I want to submit to you, my dear church family, that this is not only how satan worked against our Lord and Saviour 2,000 years ago, it’s how he works today. We need to be so, so, so, very careful about how we represent other people because of what we’ve heard about them. We don’t want to be the spiritual descendents of the people who spread false reports, knowingly or unknowingly, and who participated in condemning and crucifying the Lord of Glory. Jesus did say that inasmuch as we do something to one of the least of humanity we do it to him. So let’s not do it to each other!!!

Finally, consider John 7. Soldiers are sent to arrest Jesus but when they encountered Him and His teaching they couldn’t bring themselves to do it. So their leaders, in a rage, denounce their own people as cursed and “easily fooled”. And that was when Nicodemus stood up and said, “Does our law condemn a man before hearing him?”, and to this they mockingly responded by asking if he was from Galilee and that no prophet was to come from there. But Nicodemus was right, before we form a judgement about someone, no matter what we’ve heard about them, or what someone wants us to believe about them, we need to hear them out, personally. We call this giving them the “Right of Response”. 

Let’s be clear, if we continue in the words of Christ we will be put in similar situations to His. People will not always give us the benefit of the doubt, they will take parts of what we say and frame harmful narratives about us, and they will work to undermine what God is doing in our lives. But how did it all work out with Jesus? He was made a public spectacle. He was stripped, brutalised, and tortured on the cross. And in all that He maintained His integrity and faith towards God and the world was salvaged, satan was defeated, and His Father was glorified because of it. I’m asking everyone who names the name of Christ to follow in His footsteps. And to reject that spirit of the people who wouldn’t hear Jesus before they formed a judgment about Him. Sherise and I have four beautiful kids and a home built on loyalty and trust. How did it all begin? I’ll tell you all one day, I’d love that. But there was a day before we were married when we were on the verge of breaking up. An older sister in the faith, Jennifer Jill Schwirzer said to me, “Matt, if you want to be a leader in your family like Jesus is the leader of His Church you need to be willing to “be Jesus first”. Be the first to be like Him. Everyone is waiting for everyone else to be like Jesus and sitting as judges over everyone else. But who among us will commit to being “Jesus first”, and sacrificing themselves for those they perceive are at odds with them?