When an individual or culture ignores the historic data of the New Testament, it moves toward a distorted picture of Christ. In the absence of facts, we tend to build our image around imagination and speculation. We reconstruct a portrait build around a Western, Freudian model rather than on the facts as revealed in the contemporary sources from authors like Luke, Matthew, Mark, and John.

The modern palate from which we create our picture of Jesus often produces an image of a man who was a humble itinerant preacher, adverse to publicity and attention. He is sometimes depicted as a man who made no pretension to divinity or status. It is argued that his followers and those who came after them inserted such wild claims into the documents in order to add weight to the emerging faith called Christianity.

Beyond the fact that the manuscript evidence gives us no room for such fanciful speculation, there are occasions in the text where this portrayal of Jesus is as unlikely a fit as trying to squeeze a cow through an opening in a back door designed for a dog.

For example, in Matthew 12 Jesus responds to a charge by the Pharisees that his disciples had desecrated the Sabbath. They noticed that when Jesus and his disciples traveled on a particular Sabbath, some of them picked heads of grain and ate them. In the mind of the legalists, this action was equivalent to harvesting and threshing, which was a violation of the laws of Moses. In response, Jesus points out two occasions where individuals ate or worked on the Sabbath without condemnation. The first precedent he notes was King David’s eating of the consecrated bread when fleeing from the murderous intentions of Saul. (See Matthew 12:3-4.) Both David and his men were given this bread to eat out of necessity. Jesus then points to the priests themselves, who labor on the Sabbath without condemnation. Having looked at one of the most respected kings in Israel’s history, and the elevated role of Levitical temple priests, Jesus states, “One greater than the temple is here.” He adds, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (See Matthew 12:6 and 12:8.)

Jesus claims to be superior to the holiest place on earth and the holiest day of the week. He is not subject to the restrictions—real or artificial—that the Pharisees would put on his behavior. Because of his nature, he can override such things with impunity because they are not as important as he is.

Though Jesus demonstrated amazing humility in his incarnation, he was not the modest teacher who eschewed extravagant claims that some portray him to be. We live in a relational age that stresses his humanity and his immanence. Jesus breaks through that one-dimensional image and repeatedly speaks of his transcendence. All law, all moral categories, all rights and privileges flow from him. Because they derive from him they do not define him. He defines them. Any gospel declaration that sacrifices the supremacy of Christ impoverishes the church, because it replaces a Lord who has the authority to direct creation and mankind with an administrator who is restricted in the same way we are.