Were there people that outraged Jesus? Some folks get down on me for preaching God’s love too much, as if that was possible. They say I should talk more about God’s fearful side. Did Jesus have a dangerous side? Absolutely, but He showed it to the people you wouldn’t expect. He showed it to people like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Priesthood itself.

Matthew 23 is a good example of what C.S. Lewis might have called Jesus’ untamed side. Here he gives some of the most scathing rebukes and strongest threats of the New Testament. He calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers, whitewashed tombs, and He said the blood of all of Israel’s prophets was upon them. What follows in Matthew 24 is Jesus’ chilling prophesy that the temple itself would be totally destroyed with not one stone left upon the other.

Why did the religious leaders of the first century get the harshest rebukes of all? Shouldn’t such words be reserved for the worst sinners such as the tax collectors and the prostitutes? I can only imagine one answer to these questions. Grace was coming in Jesus Christ, and it was a very dangerous thing to stand in its way. If you stood in the way of grace, you could get flattened.

Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees gives us an often overlooked lesson. We too are not to stand in the way of grace. We are to receive it fully. Often the person we refuse to give grace is ourselves. We are to give it fully to others. What God has received we are not to reject.