Have you ever noticed that no matter what you do, you can't please everybody? Somebody, somewhere is going to criticize your best efforts.
Former president John F. Kennedy once told about a legendary baseball player who always played flawlessly. He consistently hit and was never thrown out at first base. When on base he never failed to score. He never dropped a ball and threw with unerring accuracy. He ran quickly and played perfectly. Actually, he would have been one of the all-time greats except for one problem. No one could persuade him to throw away his snack and come out of the press box to play! (1)
Anybody know someone like that? They won't try to do something significant themselves, but they sure can criticize those who do.
Jesus encountered people like that. He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. A woman was in the synagogue with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day." The Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"
When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
That's amazing, isn't it? Not the miracle but the reaction to the miracle. Jesus healed a poor little lady who was all bent over. Helped her stand straight and tall for the first time in eighteen years. And the leader of the synagogue criticized him for it.
First of all, we shouldn't be surprised that this criticism was voiced by the leader of the synagogue. Now don't misunderstand me. He could have been [chairman of the board of First United Methodist Church] as easily as he was the leader of the synagogue. Religious affiliation is not a factor here. The point is that he was the top dog . . . until Jesus came along. And this leader of the synagogue had certainly never healed anybody. Don't you imagine that he was feeling just a little bit threatened by this upstart Jesus? A little bit envious? There is nothing like having a person come along whose just a little bit smarter, a little more capable, a little more attractive to cause you to start finding fault. Envy really can be a monster in some people's lives.
Comedians George Burns and Jack Benny were close friends. George and his wife, Gracie, and Jack and his wife, Mary, often spent time together. According to George Burns, Mary was an insecure woman. She envied her friends and always wanted what they had. When Gracie got a new pair of boots, Mary bought six pairs of the same boots. When George and Gracie built a new house, Mary hired their architect and contractor to build her the exact same house, only on a bigger scale. Mary's envy reached epic proportions when Gracie developed a heart problem. On occasion, Gracie would have a fainting spell in public. Mary was jealous of all the attention Gracie received. One day, while the two women were out shopping together, Mary faked a fainting spell, too. (2)
It can happen between friends. It can happen in families. And, of course, it happens in church. People get envious. And then they become critical. And, if that doesn't satisfy them, then crucifixion is the next logical step. We shouldn't be surprised that this criticism was voiced by the leader of the synagogue.
And we shouldn't be surprised that he chose religious grounds for making his attack. People are strange. They will hate in the name of love, kill in the name of peace and demean in the name of holiness. Some of the greatest evil in this world is perpetrated by people who act under the cloak of religion.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin in a book on Jewish Humor tells about a report some years ago in The Wall Street Journal. This report told of the arrest of two prominent Jewish businessmen who had defrauded people in the computer industry. In investigating their backgrounds, the Journal learned that these two men were seemingly quite devout. In fact, some time before, they had broken with one Orthodox synagogue and established another. Why? They claimed that the barrier separating the men's and women's section at the first synagogue was too low. Apparently, says Rabbi Telushkin, referring to the fraud charge, it is easier for some people to cross moral barriers than ritual ones. (3)
The leader of the synagogue couldn't come right out and say, "Hey, I resent this young whipper-snapper usurping my authority." He had to be more subtle than that. He kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day." As if healing people was not the Lord's work just as surely as reading scripture in the synagogue.
Now, in this man's defense, it is important for us to note that the Orthodox Jew has always maintained a strict regimen for keeping the Sabbath. The leader of the synagogue's argument was not entirely without merit.
There was a news report out of Israel just a few years ago. Before the start of the first Persian Gulf war, Israel's Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu ruled that, in case of an Iraqi chemical attack, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men could break Jewish law and shave their beards. That was so gas masks could fit properly over their beards. Eliyahu urged bearded men to carry scissors in their pocket in case they needed to shave quickly.
Also, although Jewish law regarding the Sabbath forbids simple physical activities such as turning on the radio, the threat of Iraqi missile attacks once the war started sent Israel's chief rabbis scrambling to the Scriptures for a loophole so Orthodox Jews could listen to the news for warnings. The rabbis ruled that leaving the radio on during the Sabbath was permissible--provided it was on low volume. "If there is a real alarm, you can turn up the volume but in a nonconventional manner," said the rabbis, "with a stick or with your elbow. Controlling the volume in a different manner still marks the Sabbath as different from the rest of the week." (4)
Many of us wish that we had more reverence in our society for the Sabbath, but the legalists in Jesus' day had let things get out of hand. Interpreting the law regarding the Sabbath so strictly that a person could not be healed on the Sabbath was repulsive to Jesus. And he said so, in no uncertain terms. So, what do we have up to this point? We have a religious leader criticizing Jesus and we have him doing it on religious grounds. There's a third thing we need to note.
This criticism, though unjustified, still took its toll. The leader of the synagogue looked petty in his criticism. He was petty in his criticism. Luke sums it up like this: Jesus' "opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing." But still the constant barrage of backbiting took its toll. This leader's criticism was one more piece of wood used to construct the cross on which the Savior died.
The tongue is a powerful weapon, isn't it? Whether it's idle criticism, or vicious gossip, or actually bearing false witness against somebody, the tongue can kill. In a sense, it killed Jesus. The nails driven into his hands and feet were just an extension of the animosity stirred up by his enemies through their lies and criticisms. We can say with the bard of old, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." But that's not true. Words do hurt.
In a study published in the magazine Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers noted that criticism can do actual physical damage to our bodies. In married couples, angry or hostile behaviors--including criticizing, blaming, etc.--were linked to increased blood pressure and heart rate and a falloff in immune response. Women were more likely to show negative immunological changes than men. (5)
Ladies, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if something your spouse has said has hurt you deeply--more deeply than actual physical violence would have. Of course, it can work the other way as well. Wives can also say terribly hurtful things.
Motivational speaker Dave Yoho has a dramatic way of demonstrating the power of negative words to cause damage. He uses what is known as a BK muscle test. He used this once on a skeptical Army colonel. He told this colonel to stick out his left arm at the shoulder. The officer did. His arm looked as if Yoho could have swung from it. Yoho then told the colonel that he could actually deplete the colonel's physical strength with a negative thought. This drew snickers from the audience and a smile from the colonel.
First, Dave Yoho gave the colonel a positive message. Grasping his outstretched arm, he said, "Colonel, you seem to be an officer we can be proud of. You are obviously a man of authority, a man with command presence, a strong leader." Yoho tried to push down on the colonel's arm as he said this, but it would not budge. The colonel was pleased that his arm remained firm. Then, in a serious tone, Yoho told the colonel something that was completely untrue: "But, there's a problem here," said Dave Yoho. "Did you know that scientific research has proven that on the average, career military people are less intelligent that the general population?" Then he pushed down on the colonel's arm again, exerting the same pressure as before. The colonel's arm muscles weakened, and Yoho was able to bring the colonel's arm down instantly. The colonel's jaw dropped just as fast as his arm, and the onlookers were dumbfounded. Dave Yoho had made his point. (6)
Words can hurt. Words can drain us of our energy and make us feel diminished as human beings. Again, I'm not going to ask you to hold up your hand if anybody has ever said anything to you that has caused you pain. Something a parent said to you. Or a teacher. Or a friend. Even a pastor. We should not be surprised that the leader of the synagogue criticized Jesus. We should not be surprised that he cloaked his criticism in religious language. And we should not be surprised that his criticisms, as well as the criticisms of others, took their toll--not on Jesus, but on those who followed him. Those words of criticism finally led to Jesus' crucifixion. Words have that power.
But there is one last thing we need to see: The negative words of his enemies did not defeat Christ's ultimate goal. Jesus' critics ultimately defeated only themselves. Another way of saying this is that eventually truth is victorious. That is why we should never let the negative words of others handicap or defeat us. If we keep on giving our very best, we will experience victory. And it will be even sweeter because of the negative predictions we have received.
A newspaper editor was present when Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. Afterward the editor called Lincoln's brief speech "silly," and opined that hopefully it would quickly be forgotten. Guess who has been forgotten? The newspaper editor. Meanwhile another generation of young people memorizes those words spoken long ago, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal . . ."
Critics abound. Whether in politics, or in organizations, in the home and even in church. Unfortunately they take their toll. They put Jesus on the cross. But truth cannot be defeated. Hold on if someone is criticizing you. Do the right thing and eventually you will be victorious.
1. Steve Goodier, One Minute Can Change a Life: Sixty-Second Readings of Hope and Encouragement, Life Support System Publishing, Inc., 1999.
2. George Burns, Gracie, A Love Story (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1988), pp. 233-235.
3. William Morrow and Co., Inc., New York, 1992, p. 65.
4. Chuck Shepherd, et. al., News of The Weird (1989).
5. J.K. Kiecolt-Glaser et.al., "Negative Behavior During Marital Conflict Is Associated With Immunological Down-Regulation," Psychosomatic Medicine 55 (1993), pp. 395-409.
6. How to Have a Good Year Every Year by Dave Yoho and Jeffrey P. Davidson, Berkley Books, New York, 1991, p. 20.