With a title like “The Bad Habits of Jesus” I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to read. Turns out it was a total surprise. Leonard Sweet in his book shares how Jesus turned an entire cultural upside down with how he approached people. In my time frame we don’t look at Jesus as a rebel. He was. Sweet illustrates how Jesus rebelled against the Pharisees and the cultural rules of his time in 194 pages.
Here are some things that I picked up on:
- Jesus was a procrastinator. Yep, he was. He often didn’t get there in time for his friends Lazarus illness. In fact, Lazarus died. But that was in people’s time and not in God’s time. God has his own time frame that often times contradicts our own.
- Jesus enjoyed the company of women. Back in those days women were not equal to men. They were less than a man. Jesus didn’t treat women this way. Look at how he treated the woman who was suffering from long bouts of periods and she went up with great faith and touched his robe. He praised her for it. Also, the lady at the well who he talked to about how many husbands she had. He valued her anyway. Back then women were stoned. Only men were allowed to divorce their wives, wives couldn’t. It is hard to fathom that cultural rules because here in America we have it a bit better than they did back then. Jesus valued women. He showed it.
- Jesus hanged out with bad people. Matthew, from the Gospels was a tax collector, and Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. He got a lot of grief from the Pharisees about it.
- Jesus didn’t follow the rules. He didn’t wash his hands like he was supposed to. He valued children and women when the culture at the time didn’t. He talked to robbers, murders, whores, and the poor. He healed on the Sabbath. He broke rules.
Don’t let the title of this book scare you off from letting you read this. It is an eye opening book in looking at the culture and how Jesus really was a rebel during this time period. I hope you will take the chance and read it and find value like I did.
Links:
In exchange for my honest review I was given a free copy of “The bad Habits of Jesus” by Leonard Sweet by Tyndale. The opinions I express are my own and I was not influenced.
Please wait...