Jesus Didn’t Tap – Part I

Jesus Didn’t Tap – Troubled Teens and their family learn to preserver to the end…

Craig Stephen Rogers of Abundant Life Academy, author, teacher, life coach presents a series of articles for parents of troubled teens.  Offering support, empathy, and good solid truth about working effectively with troubled teens.  Specially, Craig works with parents who have a struggling child who acts disrespectful, selfish, uncaring, defiant and ugly toward authority figures, and vial and mean-spirited toward anyone who dares to reach out and provide help. There are no easy answers, and the most effective way to work with the self-focused kids is to refuse to buy into their victim hood, refuse to allow them to target you as the “problem”, or label you as the “blame”. Please visit Craig’s blog at http://blog.abundantlifeacademy.com.

Luke 22:43-44 “And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; ⁽et not My will, but Yours be done.”

Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.  And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

In the last decade a new competitive sport has risen up and is taking the place of the sport of professional boxing.  This new sport is known as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), or Cage Fighting.  MMA is a combination of martial arts and boxing, and takes place in an octagon shaped cage.  The objective is to fight to a place where one fighter causes the other into a position of submission. The submission process is called “Tap Out”.  In other words, when one fighter overpowers the other, perhaps causing considerable pain or injury, the defeated or injured fighter signals his defeat by “tapping” his opponents.  Tapping is done with an open hand.  When the “tap out” occurs the fight is over.

John 19 Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called ⁽in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him ⁽two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”…. He said, ” It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

To some people MMA fighting is a brutal ugly barbaric sport that displays the worst elements of mankind.  To others MMA is an exciting phenomenon of athletic prowess displaying the best parts of human competition.  I think both groups would define MMA is a violent sport, and many times there is a great deal of blood letting, and painful injuries to one or both of the fighters. Regardless of how you may see it the fact is that MMA has become a very popular sport and has a huge following that continues to grow exponentially each year.  The importance of bringing up the birth and growth of a violent sport is to parallel the violence of MMA fighting with the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus.  When comparing the MMA fighter with Jesus we can safely say that no matter what pain and injury Jesus suffered through, the truth is that He didn’t tap out!  He kept fighting to his death.

Now comparing Jesus’ scourging to a MMA fight is a huge stretch, and I don’t mean to be risqué or disrespectful about either event.  However, I do want to point out that Jesus had a plan, a purpose, a goal, an objective, and He was not going to allow satan, or anyone else for that matter, to stop him.  Jesus suffered horrible physical pain and emotional anguish.  He was beaten beyond anything anyone else could endure.  Jesus was mocked, insulted, and humiliated to a degree that none of us can compare. The level of pain and injury that Jesus dealt with most likely would have killed most people, yet He did not bow out.  He endured through the entire ordeal.  Again, Jesus had His eye on the prize and nothing was going to interfere.  JESUS DIDN’T TAPOUT!

Jesus had not trained for what He endured, therefore He was not prepared to face the incredible circumstances of being scourged, beaten, whipped, and spat upon.  Emotionally, I don’t think anyone can prepare them selves for what Jesus went through.  Like Jesus, we are called to a purpose in the Kingdom of God, and we are promised that we will take on the sufferings of Christ.  As the Apostle Paul claims to have proudly taken on the sufferings of Christ throughout his letters to the churches of Corinth, Ephesus, Philippians, Colossians, etc.  A major element of Paul’s ministry was to coach and inspire the people of the early church to be prepared to face the horrific sufferings, a continuation of what Christ had suffered the night before His death.  Both Jesus and Paul taught that the normal or “typical” life of a believer (follower of Jesus) will suffer tremendous persecutions, beatings, and even death.  Paul inspired the early believers to understand that by taking on the sufferings (continued sufferings) of Christ is the blessing, meaning the “blessing” is in the fact that they’re being persecuted for Jesus sake.  Jesus, in Matthew chapter 5, taught that those who are beaten, persecuted, betrayed, and treated horribly for His sake were the one’s who were being “blessed” by God.  What John wrote in the first couple of chapters of the Book of Revelations that there are some mighty promises to the “overcomer”, and the overcomer is the one who endures to the end. Essentially, the Bible teaches that those who endured the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and those who fulfill their calling and purpose of God, will be greatly blessed and honored.  These saints are the believers that were dealt a hefty blow, but THEY REFUSED TO TAPOUT!

We have discussed the fact that Jesus didn’t tap, and we also know through history Paul and John died as martyrs, therefore we know that they didn’t tap either (they died for their faith and were tortured due to their unwillingness to give up their God-ordained calling and overall purpose in the kingdom of God).  We all have a calling/purpose, and in fulfilling our calling we all face adversity (distractions, setbacks, disappointments, unmet expectations, frustrations, failures, etc.). The question is, “do you quit under pressure, or better yet, do you tap out when facing pain?”  Essentially, we all need to ask the questions,  “do I tend to give up when the going gets tough?”  This is a very important question to ponder, and it is also the last thing we want to admit if it is true that we quit and give up under pressure.

Jesus Predicts His Betrayal  “When Jesus had said this, He ⁽became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, ⁽whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

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