by Allen Dvorak
According to the gospel accounts, people came in great numbers to see Jesus. They followed Him from place to place in huge multitudes. What was the source of such attraction to Jesus? He wasn’t wealthy; as far as we know, He never owned a home or accumulated much in the way of physical assets. He was born the son of a carpenter, laid in a manger at His birth. He didn’t attend a prestigious school and never became one of the socially elite.
The fact that He healed sick people by miraculous means obviously attracted some people. The striking wisdom of His teaching and the authority with which He spoke also attracted followers. Yet I suspect that there was also a personal magnetism which drew people to Jesus. For centuries artists have struggled to capture in ink or paint that special “look” in their portrayals of Jesus.
May I humbly suggest that the answer may be in a statement of Scripture that we sometimes pass over quickly? The author of Hebrews affirmed that Jesus was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). From the standpoint of the redemptive work of Jesus and from a purely doctrinal viewpoint, His sinless life made Him the perfect sacrifice for sinful men. There is, however, another fascinating aspect to the inspired writer’s statement.
Sinless! That means that Jesus never gossiped about anyone. He didn’t pass on to James “juicy tidbits of unflattering information” about Simon Peter. He never lost control of His temper, “flying off the handle” and wounding others with sarcasm or biting remarks. Never. He was never mean or cruel; He took no pleasure in the pain of others. He never told a dirty joke or an off-color story.
Sinless! It means that He never played the hypocrite. He was exactly what people saw. When Jesus said something, it was always the truth; He never lied to make Himself look good or to avoid a confrontation with others.
Sinless! It means that He wasn’t selfish and unwilling to share when He saw someone in need. He didn’t “use” people for selfish purposes. He never valued things more than people. He wasn’t arrogant or hardhearted, but rather He was compassionate. He knew how to be gentle at the same time that He was firmly committed to God's truth.
Sinless! It is no surprise that people wanted to be around Him! He was perfection in the midst of imperfection. No one ever saw in Jesus any of the unflattering, annoying or even disgusting things, the sins, which characterize the lives of all of us.
Paul said of himself, “Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), not as a boast, but as a goal. It is a humbling thought that the Christian’s mission in life is to imitate, as closely as possible, the character of the Savior. To look at the life of a Christian should be like looking at Jesus. What a glorious and challenging task!