Glorious defiance

We never think of Jesus as defiant. We think of Him as meek, and so He was: They accused Him before Pilate, and He said not a word. They pulled at His beard, and He said not a word.

“… like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7, ESV).

But if Jesus was meek when it godliness called for it, He was defiant when godliness called for defiance. I am not speaking only of the incident in the temple, in which He threw tables around, out of zeal for God’s house (John 2:13–17). (He was meek for Himself but passionate for His Father.)

Hebrews 2 is one of the clearest portrayals of Jesus’ genuine humanity. Verse 11 pictures Him standing as one among many brethren, just a face in the crowded assembly of worshippers of the Father:

“… That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise’” (Hebrews 2:11–12, ESV).

Then comes the next verse, the words of a fully human man defying the principalities and powers and serving them notice that He will trust the Father no matter what they throw at Him:

“I will put my trust in him” (Hebrews 2:13, ESV).

For a visual on that, picture the chin set like flint (Luke 9:51) and an exclamation point punctuating the thought. Jesus, depicted here as one man standing shoulder to shoulder with His brothers, is swearing fealty to the death before the Farther, and unrelenting pushback to the devil.

It is beyond dispute that Jesus’ followers, His brothers (Hebrews 2:12), are supposed to adopt His fierce loyalty to God and resistance to the devil (1 Peter 2:21). Resistance is as becoming to a Christian as is meekness. Hear the defiance in the Apostle Paul’s voice when it comes to personal habits of lifestyle:

“… ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12, ESV).

He refuses to be enslaved to food; he refuses to be enslaved to drink, to lust, to everything that hinders him. Let us try this on for size and see how it feels in the mouth. Repeat after Paul: “I will not be dominated by anything.” And “I will put my trust in him.” Again, with feeling.