Did Jesus ever have to say sorry?
The question has been raised recently by Mark Driscoll whose
ability to spontaneously insert his foot into his mouth on any given Sunday has
become, quite honestly, rather predictable. Several weeks ago Driscoll’s
awkward moment in the pulpit was further highlighted by the fact that fellow
leaders of Mars Hill actually deleted a six-minute section from his sermon
before it was posted online for public consumption. And what was the faux pas? Claiming that while Jesus was indeed
sinless, he also, most likely, had “made mistakes.”
Psychology professor and blogger Warren Throckmorten posted
the deleted clips earlier this week on Patheos to prevent theological banter from
misconstruing Driscoll’s original words…and
banter there has been. Shortly after the censored sermon was broadcast
scholars and practitioners alike aired their respective opinions on the issue.
Some were disseminated by Christianity Today while others simply took
to the Evangelical news outlets of twitter and facebook.
Is the issue important? Certainly….and no, not really. As it
typically does on such issues, the question hinges on semantics and the
definition of terms. If by “mistakes” Driscoll means to say that as Jesus “grew
in wisdom” (Luke 2:52) and “learned obedience” (Heb. 5:8) he underwent a fully
human experience of trying and failing at non-moral tasks (Driscoll’s
illustrations include riding a bike or learning to write letters, or hit a
baseball). In this regard one should be able to say that it is reasonable that
Jesus made “mistakes.” Certainly, he may have taken a wrong turn, forgot a
name, or was late to a meeting and we would consider these trifle instances
unintentional errors. Few, if any of us, would have a problem with Jesus making
those sort of mistakes.
But what do we make of the use of the word to imply, as it
often does, intentional and unwise decisions? We often call it a
“mistake” for the woman to have an extra glass of wine before she got in her
car to drive home, or for the counselor to become romantically involved with
his client. In fact many of us may confess at times that a lapse of judgment on
the internet, words spoken in anger and haste, or even dealing inappropriately with
the finances of our business, was simply an unfortunate, albeit tragic,
“mistake.”
When the word is used in this context, we must
unapologetically disagree with Mr. Driscoll about the potential for Jesus to be
included in the mix. As one who was unable to do anything but what he glimpsed
the father himself doing, Jesus never was sidetracked for a second (John 5:19).
However, perhaps what might cause the most confusion in this
debate is not the multi-faceted definition of “mistakes” but the underwhelming
use of the word “sin” in our current culture. Maybe all this eyebrow raising
has much less to do with our theological integrity then it does our societal
confusion about humanity.
Shooters in school hallways, college campuses, and movie
theatres have biological and mental disorders. Porn addicts are victims of
Internet infused imaginations, and unrealized sexual desires. Addictions to
vices are the byproduct of exhausting hours at the office or loneliness. We are
violent because of video games. We are abusers because our parents were. We
“err because we are human” Alexander Pope taught us, and these errors are to be
expected, embraced and explained in
ways that increasingly distance us from theological language like…sin.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “When
men talk of a little hell it's because they think they have only a little sin
and believe in a little Savior.” In a similar way, when we reduce the gravity
of sinful humanity to a people who might occasionally make “mistakes,” our
lapse in language also prevents us from experiencing the full weight and glory
of the gospel. We can grant that Christ may have overcooked a roasted goat on
occasion, but we dare not suggest that he ever failed to accomplish all that
the Father had asked of him. Indeed, Jesus didn’t come to ensure that we
wouldn’t ever spill our milk or trip on a crack in the sidewalk, he came to
bring dead people back to life. Dismissing our sin for mistakes sounds an awful
lot like the sick declaring themselves healthy enough to never seek out the
doctor (Mark 2:17).
