Did Jesus ever have to deal with bullies when he was growing up? As an urban gypsy, hopping from town to town, I know I had my share of them. Some of them still stand out vividly in my mind:
Second grade: Elsinore California. it was “Eddie Spaghetti” who like to tease girls but specialized in tormenting me.
Fourth grade: Fullerton, California. We transferred in mid-year. My teacher delighted in calling out my shortcomings in front of the whole class.
Fifth grade: Yermo, California. A whole pack of girls cornered me once with devious intentions. Luckily, I was a fast runner.
Sixth grade: Puhrump, Nevada. Eric S. and his cronies terrorized our whole class, even punching kids in sight of the teacher. My friend Martha and I were his special targets.
Seventh grade. Still in Puhrump. Eric was doing time in juvie, but his cronies patrolled the halls of the junior high school doling out punishment. I also had to deal with a gym teacher who openly mocked me because I was fat, clumsy and had no athletic skills.
Eighth grade: Las Vegas, Nevada. Kay-Kay threw me up against a locker because she felt I looked at her wrong during drama class.
Ninth grade: South Sioux City, Nebraska. Once again, transferring in mid-year. The harassment was started by a kid named Tristan with one leg shorter than the other. For retaliation, my sister suggested I call him “Pegleg”. Wrong thing to do to a kid with friends when you have none.
Tenth grade: Still in South Sioux. Riding the school bus. There was a senior on our route. He was big enough to make the football defensive line, but too stupid to make the required grade point to stay there. He delighted in poking me in the back with a pencil and pulling my hair the whole trip. Once, he rapped me on the head with his class ring as he went by. Those things hurt!
I’m not sure if it was the ring incident or something else, but at some point that bully caught me on a bad day and I lashed back. I don’t even remember if I actually hit him or not, but there I was all 5’6″ of me swinging madly at this 6’+ colossus. He and his buddies smirked at my pathetic attempts, but he didn’t poke me the rest of the trip.
The next day he got on the bus and met my icy glare. The look said “don’t even think of trying something, jerk!” He walked right on by and sat at the back of the bus, far away from me.
That was the last time I was ever bullied.
Tristan and I were actually semi-friends in high school, saying hi to each other in passing in the hallway. He played a drunk in the school musical and I gave him tips on how to create the illusion of a 5 o’clock shadow.
But my childhood experiences left me wondering if the adolescent Jesus was ever bullied. Growing up, I was taught to “turn the other cheek”, “blessed are the meek” and “a gentle word turns away wrath”. Does that apply to bullies too?
Well, the Bible has very little to say about the Jesus’ life before his ministry, but it says a lot about how Jesus dealt with the bullies of his adulthood. He stood up to the Pharisees, overturned the tables of the crooked money changers and he called sin what it was.
Too many Christians picture Jesus as this anemic, timid being and hold him as an example to us asking “What would Jesus do?” It’s believing we must be mum so we don’t offend others, and don’t fight back because that’s not the Christian thing to do. Keep the peace at all cost. But does Jesus call us to keep our bodies inactive and our mouths shut in the face of injustice? In our attempts to be peace makers are we called to be peace fakers?
No.
Because that is what being a true peace maker is: standing up to those who take advantage of the weak, calling out injustice, telling others “no, that’s not OK”.
This isn’t picking fights – it’s standing up for yourself and your beliefs. And at times, that means you have to defend yourself. Sometimes with scripture, sometimes with reason and sometimes – possibly – with your fists.
Ephesians 6 tells us “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
Truth and righteousness stand there with peace, not timidity and political correctness.
So stand firm, ready to defend who you are and the Christ living within you. Your peace comes not from bully tactics of the world but through knowing Christ and standing strong with him.
So, as a Christian, have you ever had a time you had to “fight back?”
Did Jesus ever have to deal with bullies when he was growing up? As an urban gypsy, hopping from town to town, I know I had my share of them. Some of them still stand out vividly in my mind:
Second grade: Elsinore California. it was “Eddie Spaghetti” who like to tease girls but specialized in tormenting me.
Fourth grade: Fullerton, California. We transferred in mid-year. My teacher delighted in calling out my shortcomings in front of the whole class.
Fifth grade: Yermo, California. A whole pack of girls cornered me once with devious intentions. Luckily, I was a fast runner.
Sixth grade: Puhrump, Nevada. Eric S. and his cronies terrorized our whole class, even punching kids in sight of the teacher. My friend Martha and I were his special targets.
Seventh grade. Still in Puhrump. Eric was doing time in juvie, but his cronies patrolled the halls of the junior high school doling out punishment. I also had to deal with a gym teacher who openly mocked me because I was fat, clumsy and had no athletic skills.
Eighth grade: Las Vegas, Nevada. Kay-Kay threw me up against a locker because she felt I looked at her wrong during drama class.
Ninth grade: South Sioux City, Nebraska. Once again, transferring in mid-year. The harassment was started by a kid named Tristan with one leg shorter than the other. For retaliation, my sister suggested I call him “Pegleg”. Wrong thing to do to a kid with friends when you have none.
Tenth grade: Still in South Sioux. Riding the school bus. There was a senior on our route. He was big enough to make the football defensive line, but too stupid to make the required grade point to stay there. He delighted in poking me in the back with a pencil and pulling my hair the whole trip. Once, he rapped me on the head with his class ring as he went by. Those things hurt!
I’m not sure if it was the ring incident or something else, but at some point that bully caught me on a bad day and I lashed back. I don’t even remember if I actually hit him or not, but there I was all 5’6″ of me swinging madly at this 6’+ colossus. He and his buddies smirked at my pathetic attempts, but he didn’t poke me the rest of the trip.
The next day he got on the bus and met my icy glare. The look said “don’t even think of trying something, jerk!” He walked right on by and sat at the back of the bus, far away from me.
That was the last time I was ever bullied.
Tristan and I were actually semi-friends in high school, saying hi to each other in passing in the hallway. He played a drunk in the school musical and I gave him tips on how to create the illusion of a 5 o’clock shadow.
But my childhood experiences left me wondering if the adolescent Jesus was ever bullied. Growing up, I was taught to “turn the other cheek”, “blessed are the meek” and “a gentle word turns away wrath”. Does that apply to bullies too?
Well, the Bible has very little to say about the Jesus’ life before his ministry, but it says a lot about how Jesus dealt with the bullies of his adulthood. He stood up to the Pharisees, overturned the tables of the crooked money changers and he called sin what it was.
Too many Christians picture Jesus as this anemic, timid being and hold him as an example to us asking “What would Jesus do?” It’s believing we must be mum so we don’t offend others, and don’t fight back because that’s not the Christian thing to do. Keep the peace at all cost. But does Jesus call us to keep our bodies inactive and our mouths shut in the face of injustice? In our attempts to be peace makers are we called to be peace fakers?
No.
Because that is what being a true peace maker is: standing up to those who take advantage of the weak, calling out injustice, telling others “no, that’s not OK”.
This isn’t picking fights – it’s standing up for yourself and your beliefs. And at times, that means you have to defend yourself. Sometimes with scripture, sometimes with reason and sometimes – possibly – with your fists.
Ephesians 6 tells us “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
Truth and righteousness stand there with peace, not timidity and political correctness.
So stand firm, ready to defend who you are and the Christ living within you. Your peace comes not from bully tactics of the world but through knowing Christ and standing strong with him.
So, as a Christian, have you ever had a time you had to “fight back?”
When I hear the word “meek” I can’t help but think of the Avenger’s movie Ragnarok.
Ragnarok features Thor, the god of thunder, who flies around beating up bad guys with the help of his mighty magic hammer. But, alas, Thor’s evil sister shatters the hammer, leaving poor Thor flightless and weakened.
The movie’s climax is when Sis has Thor in a death grip,
strangling the life out of her brother. Thor lapses into a trance and sees his
deceased father Odin. “If I only had my hammer!” Thor laments. Odin then
chastises his son. “You are not called the god of hammers. You are called the
god of thunder. The hammer was only to help you control your power.”
It’s an epiphany moment for our hero. He awakens, calls up
the power living within, and saves the day.
So, you’re probably asking “how in the world does this movie remind me of the word meek?”
Because, while most people think of meekness as submission
and weakness, in reality it’s power that is under control.
The best example I can give you is this: Think of a man. A strong man. An able-to-bench-press-200-pounds kind of strong man. Now, place in that man’s hands a newborn baby. He holds it delicately and with great care. That, my friends, is power under control. It’s setting aside all that potential force to focus on the needs of others.
That’s what God did for us. He set aside all his power and wrapped himself in flesh to focus on our needs and show us the way to him.
In return, we are called upon to be meek also. God asks us
to control our need to be in power so we can focus on others.
It’s seen in the father who walks the floors at 2 am with a
crying baby. That is power under control.
It’s the mother who, even though she’s running late, lets
her 3-year-old do the zipper himself to show he can.
It’s the sister who lets her younger sibling be the teacher
when they play school.
Its when (I saw this one this week!) a mother asks her 10-year-old
to teach his little brother how to rinse off his plate and put it in the dishwasher.
That’s controlled power squared! The mother relinquishes her power to the 10-year-old,
who in turn gives it to the younger brother! That’s meekness in action!
The controlled power of meekness lifts others up and empowers
them. It teaches, encourages, comforts and protects.
It’s never “Ha! I beat you!“
It’s not “I told you I was right!“
And it isn’t found in “If you’d just done it my way this wouldn’t have happened.”
But to those who can learn to control their power, God has promised to smile down and say “My child, you have shown your strength in helping others. To you I give the world. I know it’s in good hands.”
I would love to say I’ve got this down. Sadly, I don’t. It’s
still a work in process.
“Blessed be the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
I didn’t have much of a childhood. It was more like a roadmap.
My parents were urban gypsies. They were constantly moving: running from bill collectors, seeking something better, dragging us 4 kids along for the ride.
My brother Jon claims he counted out 44 different homes before we graduated from high school. He could be right. I remember roach infested apartments, seedy trailer parks, three homes with no running water, one with no electricity and a dirt floor. One place we lived in for two years. Another we were at for less than a month. We enrolled in 16 different schools in 3 different states.
All that moving around doesn’t put you at the top of the popularity ladder in school. It puts you below the bottom rung. I was a target for bullies, picked last for teams, people whispered and giggled when I walked past. Jon and I were in the same grade. We were often in the same class. Since we were both social outcasts, we often teamed up for class projects and other activities. Yes, partnering with your brother doesn’t help your social standing either, but when no one else wants you on their team…(sigh).
Somehow, I always managed to have a friend or two. My strategy was: the first day you walk into a new classroom, look for the person who has no one else sitting by them. Introduce yourself and sit down. Usually, they were also a welfare kid, clothed by Goodwill and just as friendless as I was.
Things changed in high school. We were actually at the same building for all 4 of our high school years. I had two friends, but I wanted something more: I wanted a boyfriend.
Things at home were worse than normal. My parents always seemed to be fighting. It was a kind of joke among us kids: when we were little there’d be a huge argument every week. By middle school, it was every other day. In high school, the fights were every night. They were screaming matches with name calling, accusations and degrading language. My folks had no time for us kids. They only had time to hate each other.
I needed someone to love me. I needed a boyfriend.
I prayed for a boyfriend. I pleaded with God for a boyfriend.
And God said No. Over and over, his answer was NO.
I graduated from high school without a boyfriend. Grad night would be my last in Nebraska. All of our belongings were packed up and we were leaving for Kansas in the morning. My parents were kind enough to let Jon and I go to the senior all night party.
It was the early 80’s and “Freeze Frame” by J. Geils Band was a hit on the radio. It was also the theme song for one of the senior girls (I’ll call her Becky). Becky had a reputation of being “friendly” with every member of the football team and they claimed to have the pictures to prove it. There at the bowling alley, the song came on the radio. Shouts and cheers went up. Everyone zeroed their attention in on Becky, cat calling and jeering. Becky got another ovation when she was called up to get a gift card.
“Freeze Frame! Freeze Frame!” The jocks all chanted. Becky smiled broadly as she came forward for her card. I couldn’t tell if the smile was in pride or to hide shame.
I never saw Becky again. I don’t know what became of her.
Seven years after high school, I finally got my boyfriend. We married two years later. I wore white. Yes, white. Yes, because.
I now realize what a gift it was that God never gave me a boyfriend during my high school years. As a love-starved social outcast, what would have prevented me from becoming a Becky if I’d fallen in with the wrong type of boyfriend and his pals?
Ephesians 6:14 says “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” That breastplate is not only the righteousness of God’s Son that is bestowed on you as a Christian, but also the righteousness he calls us to as his followers. The breastplate protects us from outside forces and holds our essence as a Christian in. What would have happened to my breastplate if I had gotten my wish in high school? Would the breastplate of my lonely youth have held up to social pressure, or would it have been sacrificed to serve up a proverbial chicken?
Often God protects us by NOT giving us what we want.
“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness…” Ephesians 6:14
Back in high school, about a century ago, I had my life all planned out: finish high school, go to art school, become an illustrator for Disney, or start my own comic script rivaling Peanuts in popularity. Disney and Schultz were my gods back then. I had tons of books on art and animation, I watched Disney cartoons my eyes devouring all the information they could: poses, facial expressions, making the impossible seem plausible. I had tons of paperback books with the Charlie Brown comic strips. I collected Disney comic books with the same devotion my sister collected pop star posters and Tiger Beat magazines. I was going to work for Disney! I was going to make draw funny pictures! I was going to be the world’s greatest funny artist!!!
A few decades later, I can attest that dream never happened. I don’t even have a job in the art field. And know what? I’m OK with that. I like my life.
A lot of things survived my high school days, though. I still have the art books. I still have my Disney comic book collection, and Charlie Brown / Snoopy books. And I still have my drawings of Sir Pip.
My Rediscovery of Sir Pip
Sir Pip was a cartoon character I invented my junior year. A cross somewhere between Marvin the Martin and Mickey Mouse, the few dozen drawings I made of him featured the little hero and his sword in one shot comedy situations. I uncovered the drawings as I was going through boxes of old stuff from my younger days. Looking over the drawings, one thought came to mind: man, these were pathetic! Pip didn’t even have real armor, just something resembling a leotard and Mickey Mouse shoes! His helmet was kind of Roman-ish, but other than that and his sword, he was totally defenseless.
The Belt of Truth
Coincidence or not, this month in church, our pastor Teddy Fairchild began preaching a series on the armor of God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5tGNOXRN2U Paul’s description of the armor was based on the armor of the Roman Centurions that occupied the holy lands at the time. They were well known and feared. The first piece of the armor mentioned is the Belt of Truth. All the other armor is attached to this belt, so it has to be strong to withstand the weight of everything else. This belt is the word of God. God calls us to have it cinched tight at all times, ready for battle.
The belt on my armor was tested about ten years ago when the church we were attending voted to allow gay people to become priests in our congregations, and to perform gay marriages. My brain seized up when I heard that. We loved our church family! We’d been attending for years! But my brain kept repeating “this isn’t right, this isn’t right!”
“Just give it a few months.” People suggested. But do you understand what that means? The Bible is very clear that homosexuality is a sin, and now my church was asking me to pretend it wasn’t. Not only that, but they were fine with people who openly engage in this sin becoming their leaders, and the congregation would be blessing and celebrating the union of people who wanted to disobey God in this sin.
I was being asked to loosen the belt.
Have you ever noticed how much society wants that belt loosened? Gay marriage – loosen the belt a little. Transgenderism – let it out another notch. Legalized marijuana – let it out some more. Drag queen story hour – just a bit looser…
At some point you will loosen the belt to the point it falls off. And once the belt falls, all the other pieces will come crashing down with it. You are then open for attack and Satan moves in for the kill. Christianity, as you once knew it, dies on the altar of social pressure, and you are left with nothing but leotards and Mickey Mouse shoes.
So, yes, we’re now at church that is more in tune with core Christian values and keeping the belt tightened in The Word.
Back to little Pip. Kiddo, you’re about to get an upgrade…
