The righteous anger of Jesus was also always driven by His love of the truth. Above all else, Jesus was a man of truth. He made that bold declaration, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus always spoke and acted in truth. There was no unrighteousness in Him. As the High Priest of His people, Jesus had to be perfectly “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners” (John 7:26). Truth was a defining characteristic of the true manhood of Jesus.
Though Jesus was a man of righteous anger and love of the truth, He was also the man of patience par excellence. Arno Gaebelein captured the essence of this patience so well, when he wrote,
Patience in all its fulness and perfection the Son of God exhibited in His earthly life. Whenever we look in the Gospels, we behold this calm, quiet, restful patience. His whole life here on earth is but a continued record of patience. In patience His childhood was spent, and when in His twelfth year the Glory of His Deity flashed forth we read ‘He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.’ In patience, He whose mighty power had called the universe in existence, toiled on, content in Nazareth, submissive to the Father, till after many years the day would come, when the work He had come to do should be begun and finished. To describe that Patience during His public ministry from Nazareth, where He had been brought up, to Golgotha, would necessitate a close scrutiny of every step of the way, every act and every utterance which came from His holy lips.
Think how long He bore with His disciples when they argued with one another over which of them was greatest (Luke 9:46; 22:24). Jesus was so patient with Peter after he had denied Him three times (John 20:15-19). In all of His dealings with His disciples, Jesus exemplified a patience that is rarely seen in men. True manhood is marked by this exhibition of patience.
Consider then Christ’s courageous boldness. The courage of Jesus was marked by the fact that He constantly had an eye to the glory of God. Jesus did not fear men because He sought the glory of the One who sent Him (John 7:18). Jesus was the most courageous man who ever lived. Elizabeth Elliot captures this so well, in her book The Mark of a Man. She writes,
Jesus. . .showed us, in ordinary, everyday terms, what courage looked like. Consider a moment on His last night before the crucifixion. After praying the great prayer of John 17 He had gone with the disciples to the accustomed place, a peaceful garden, where Judas knew he could find Him. Judas arrives with the guard and officers provided by Jesus’ archenemies, the chief priests and Pharisees. They came with lanterns and torches and weapons. A man’s natural instinct would be to flee and hide.
Jesus fully realizing all that was going to happen to him, went forward and said to them, ‘Who are you looking for?’ It was a demonstration of quiet courage; born of the knowledge that He was held by the sovereign will of His Father. It was a purely and thoroughly manly act.
Of course, no one can read the gospel records without immediately having his mind and heart gripped by the compassion of Jesus toward the sick and the sinful. Every miracle of healing and every overture of grace to sinners is revealing the magnitude of compassion in the heart of Christ. True manhood is marked by compassion. While the world feigns admiration for compassion, it really views it as weakness. Rather, true compassion is one of the most glorious strengths embodied by the Savior.
The whole of Christ’s life culminating in His death reveals that true manhood is marked by sacrificial love. Jesus demonstrates what perfect manhood looks like in the act of sacrificing Himself for the redemption of His people. While Jesus did not have a wife during His earthly ministry, each person that He purchased with His blood form the church, the bride of Christ. The relation that he stands in connection with His bride is set out so magnificently in Ephesians 5:22-33. While God calls wives to submit to their husbands “as the church submits to Christ;” He calls husband to love their wives “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. . .” This is so much a mark of true manhood–a willingness to lay down your life for the spiritual wellbeing of another.
