5 Surprising Things Said By Jesus

Here are 5 surprising things that Jesus said that many may not know about.

Jesus Quoted Scripture on the Cross

While Jesus was dying on the cross, you wouldn’t expect Him to quote Scripture would you, but that’s exactly what He did when He said “about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?) (Matt 27:46).  That was taken from Psalm 22:1a where it was written “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Jesus also quoted Scripture for the purpose of fulfilling prophecy which is what the Apostle John wrote in 19:28-29 “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips." (John 19:28-29).  This came from Psalm 69:21 which says “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst."

He Came to Bring a Sword and not Peace

Most people have the view of Jesus meek and mild and that He was but He was meek and mild only to those who were humble in nature but Jesus actually said “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Matt 10:34).  That doesn’t fit our concept of Jesus very much.  We think He was all about peace, love, forgiveness, and grace and He was but Jesus was also realistic.  He knew that to believe in Him would cause divisions in families and that brother would be pitted again his brother, mother against her daughter, and father against his son.  Just look at those who come to believe in Jesus in Islamic nations.  They are often hated, murdered, disowned by their families, and may lose their job and all their possessions.  Jesus didn’t come to bring peace but His coming brings division and that is the way it is in most of the world and we in the West don’t see that as much as they do in most parts of the world where Christians are hated with a vengeance.

Jesus the Name Caller

We don’t tend to think of Jesus as calling people names but listen to how He reacted to the self-righteous of His day; “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34) and “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell” (Matt 23:33)?  Wow!  Jesus told them what they were.  He called them names but He was justified in doing so because they were as He described them.  This wasn’t sin though because we know that Jesus was sinless (2nd Cor 5:21; 1st Pet 2:22).  He was calling them what they were and the Jews knew what the vipers or snakes represented; Satan!  Can you imagine going up to a group of priests or ministers and telling them “You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”  I can’t imagine myself doing that but Jesus had that right for He knew their heart and could know what their intentions were (Matt 9:4; John 2:24).  We don’t.

The Master says “cut him to pieces.”

In Matthew 24:51 we read Jesus’ shocking statement that “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  This speaks of the coming judgment for all who reject the Son of God as Lord and Savior.  He is the “Master” in this section of Scripture. When Christ returns, He will judge the wicked and all who have rejected Him have the wrath of God on them (John 3:36b) and will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:12-15).  These are frightening words to those who refuse to believe on Him.  Elsewhere He said in Luke 19:27 about those who reject Him as King “Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me” (Luke 19:27).  Jesus says that for all who refuse to repent and believe in Him, which is what His message was all about (Mark 1:15), they will be cut to pieces in from of Him and there, they will kill them in His very presence.  This speaks of eternal death.

Hate your Father and Mother

Once again, Jesus says some very surprising things here.  He says “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).  Wait a minute; didn’t Jesus say that we are to love one another and love our enemies and bless those who curse us and do good to those who despitefully use us (Matt 5: 10-11)?  Yes He did, but here Jesus uses hyperbole or extreme exaggeration to make His point.  We are to seek the kingdom above all things and that means seeking the King of that kingdom first and foremost (Matt 6:33) and we are to love Him so much that, by contrast or in comparison of, it actually looks like hate.  Jesus was contrasting that our love for Him would be so great that it would look like hate to those of our own family.

Conclusion

Jesus spoke some very hard words and He actually spoke twice as much about hell as He ever did heaven.  This is because hard words tend to soften hearts but soft words tend to harden hearts and Jesus desires that none perish apart from faith in Him and so He spoke some pretty bold and, some would say, outrageous things, because He wanted to give His listeners ears that would hear and eyes that would see in the hopes that they would believe in Him and that they might not perish but receive everlasting life (John 3:16).

Article By Jack Wellman