Jesus Christ - a most Holy Heretic

Jesus on idolatry …
(and the nature of false worship)
While there are literally dozens of Old Testament regulations defining &/or prohibiting various
types of false worship (especially the worship of idols 120 ), Jesus spent essentially no time during his
ministry directly commenting on the same. That having been said, it is worth noting that Jesus did
indirectly seek to amend the Law regarding these commandments as well, doing so in the following
subtle-yet-potent ways:
*Firstly (and admittedly least significantly), Jesus' actions formulated a not-so-subtle commentary on
the Law's prohibition of magic & witchcraft. 121 Indeed, nowhere in Jewish literature does it state that the
Messiah 122 would have paranormal powers or be able to perform supernatural feats, only that he would
liberate Israel from her oppressors. And yet throughout the Gospels we see Jesus performing miraculous
deeds that can only be described as magical – the reading of minds, the exorcising of demons, the
healing of long-term hemorrhaging, the curing of paralysis, bringing sight to the blind and hearing to the
deaf, giving his disciples similar powers of healing &/or over demons, calmly “passing through” angry
mobs, stilling violent storms, walking on water, and even seemingly raising the dead. 123
*Secondly, while the Law demanded that no sacrifices be
made to false gods (see Exodus 22:20), Jesus made one of his
missions to abolish sacrifice altogether – openly stating that God
himself wanted “mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13) and then
brazenly entering the Temple making said sacrifices at least
temporarily impossible (by twice destroying the money-changing tables
therein & chasing the imminent animal victims thereof therefrom – see John
2:13-16 in the beginning of his ministry and Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-
19, & Luke 19:45-48 near his ministry's end). 124
120 See the commandments prohibiting the making of idols (see Exodus 20:23, Exodus 34:17, & Leviticus 19:4b), the
worship of idols (see Exodus 20:5a & Leviticus 19:4a), adopting the customs of idolaters (see Leviticus 18:3 & Leviticus
20:23), enticing others to idolatry (see Deuteronomy 13:6-10), &/or possessing anything from idolatrous villages that have
been “appropriately” destroyed (see Deuteronomy 13:13-18).
121 Not only was witchcraft itself prohibited, but all forms of magical divination were forbidden along with it (see
Leviticus 19:26-31 & Deuteronomy 18:10-11) … Indeed, the practice of magic was so despised by the Law that all
convictions thereof were punishable by death (see Exodus 22:18).
122 It is worth noting that even if Jesus had claimed to be the Davidian Messiah (a holy status he repeatedly & quite
vehemently denied – see Matthew 22:41-45, Mark:12:35-37, & Luke 20:41-44 – as well as John 14:12-20, and Matthew
4:1-10 juxtaposed with Daniel 7:13-14), doing so would not have been in any way blasphemous under the Law. Indeed,
blasphemy was a Jewish crime that occurred whenever one took God's holy name in vain &/or claimed to possess
authority that only God possessed. Yes, it is true that – in contrast to the Jewish priests of the day who would openly
claim their authority from what “the Torah says” – Jesus did openly claim that his personal interpretations carried equal
if not superior weight thereto (see the many “You have heard it said … and yet I tell you” statements made in Matthew
5-7's Sermon on the Mount). Even so, never once did Jesus set himself up as being above or even equal to his heavenly
Father, and indeed repeatedly & unequivocally deferred all praise to the same (see Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke
18:19, John 5:41, John 7:16, John 8:50-54, & John 12:44-47 et al).
123 NOTE that all of these “miracles” either have rational alternative explanations or are discounted by Jesus himself.
Still, they clearly appeared to be magic-based, and thus clearly had the appearance of being a commentary on the Law
– a commentary against the inflexible punishment of deeds deemed heretical, and for the acceptance of any & all actions
(even traditionally illegal ones) that bore the “good fruit” of peace.
124 It bears noting that Jesus' actions mentioned here might also have been an enlightened rebuke of “the Elohim” – the false
gods (“fallen angels,” actually) who posed as “God” from Genesis 2 through Exodus 3:14, and who then gave humanity
the majority of the Law's commandments (including those allowing for the cruel execution of animals for food in Genesis
9, and all of the regulations thereafter related to the cruel slaughter of animals for ceremonial sacrifice).
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