Jesus' Sins

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the seven deadly sins, or what the Catholic Church calls "capital sins" was first formalized by Pope Gregory the Great in 604 and fully developed by Thomas Aquinas in 1274. It has been an accepted doctrine ever since. Terms like "deadly" and "capital" sound awfully strong, as if they are sins that will land you directly in hell. The CE, however, defines them as vices: "It is not then the gravity of the vice in itself that makes it capital but rather the fact that it gives rise to many other sins."

These sins are really very petty. There is hardly a person who can get through life without displaying these traits at various times to various degrees. Even Thomas Aquinas was fat, as were several popes. By definition, people with power have to have a sense of pride in being recognized as an authority. In their zeal to increase their authority by making sin a universal given, they succeeded in tagging themselves and their idol Jesus.

Right believing Christians who have been brainwashed into believing Jesus was perfectly free of sin, might be shocked to know that he succumbed to six of these sins. He was fat and lazy. He didn't work and he hated money, so he was dependant on handouts. When they weren't offered, he stole.

People called him a glutton and a drunkard. Women followed him around like a bunch of groupies eager to service their hero. He didn't wash, so it is a wonder they could stand his smell.

He had such a high opinion of himself that he got frustrated or angry at those who didn't believe him. When he insulted them or threatened to send them to hell, he only made his audience angry at him. Who could blame his skeptics? He wasn't the only miracle man in those days, claiming to be sent by God.

²¹"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
²²On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
²³And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' (Matt. 7:21-23)

Pride

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Out of pride comes arrogance, contempt and vanity.

To call others dogs and swine, suggests arrogance, or more accurately, contempt.

⁶"Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you. (Matt. 7:6)

Whoever does not love him more than their parents is not worthy of him.

³⁷He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
³⁸and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
³⁹He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt. 10:37-39)

He was annoyed by the presence of a father of a boy who suffered from seizures.

¹⁹"O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." (Mark 9:19)

The luxury of being rubbed with expensive ointment was more important than selling the ointment and giving the money to the poor.

³And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
⁴But there were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment thus wasted?
⁵For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor." And they reproached her.
⁶But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
⁷For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you will, you can do good to them; but you will not always have me.
⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burying.
⁹And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." (Mark 14:3-7)

The attention he got from a woman was more important than her duties.

³⁸Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house.
³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
⁴⁰But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."
⁴¹But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;
⁴²one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:38-42)

He was frustrated because the Pharisees would not believe he came from God.

⁴²Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
⁴³Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. (John 8:42-43)

Envy

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation. There are no recorded incidences where Jesus was envious. After all, what could a man with a god size ego have to be envious about?

Anger

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury.

Jesus was angry many times. The following examples are self evident.

²⁰Then he began to upbraid the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. (Matt: 11:20)

²¹He got angry at several towns for not repenting. He tells them, "But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you." (Matt. 11:21-24)

³³"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?" (Matt. 23:33)

¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? (Matt. 23:17)

⁵"And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man,"Stretch out your hand." (Mark 3:5)

⁴⁰You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? (Luke 11:40)

Sloth

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

These were the days before running water and the germ theory, so it would be unfair to compare Jesus' hygiene habits by today's standards. But we have to wonder how badly he smelled between baths, or if he ever cleaned himself at all. Jesus justified not washing because theologically, he felt he was always clean.

He justifies not washing by claiming that being unwashed does not defile him,

1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
²"Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat." Jesus answered.
¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.
²⁰These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." (Matt. 15:1-20)

The Pharisees asked him why he did not wash his hands before eating according to tradition.

²they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed.
³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders;
⁴and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.)
⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" (Mark 7:2-5)

His answer was that all food is clean.

¹⁸And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him,
¹⁹since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) (Mark 7:18-19)

For him, everything is clean, so there is no need to wash.

³⁹And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness.
⁴⁰You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?
⁴¹But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you. (Luke 11:37)

The lazy man's creed: Don't worry about your basic needs for food and clothing; God will provide.

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matt. 6:25)

²²And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on.
²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (Luke 12.22-23)

Greed

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness. Jesus distaste for work and wealth was highly impractical. Because he lived on charity, there were times when charity couldn't satisfy his needs, so he stole.

On the Sabbath, he and his disciples helped themselves to a farmer's grains. When asked why he violates Jewish law by eating on the Sabbath, he justified stealing by calling himself lord of the Sabbath.

¹On a sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.
²But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath?"
³And Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
⁴how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?"
⁵And he said to them, "The Son of man is lord of the sabbath." (Matt. 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-8)

He sent two disciples to steal an ass and a colt.

¹And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
₂saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
₃If any one says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and he will send them immediately." (Matt. 21:1-3)

Gluttony

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

He gets uppity about complaints about him and his followers always eating and drinking.

³³And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."
³⁴And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
³⁵The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." (Matt: 9:14-15; Mark 2:18-19; Luke 5:33-34)

He was known as a glutton and a drunkard.

¹⁹the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."'(Matt: 11:18-19; Luke 7:34)

Jesus got cranky when he was hungry. Once he cursed a fig tree for not having any fruit. The tree died.

¹⁸In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.
¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the wayside he went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once. (Matt: 21:18-19; Mark 11:12-14, 20)

Death must consume a lot of energy. When he returned, the first thing he asked for was food. Or perhaps he didn't really die?

³⁶As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them.
³⁷But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit.
³⁸And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts?
³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have."
⁴¹And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"
⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
⁴³and he took it and ate before them. (Luke 24.36-43

Lust

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Jesus set an awfully high standard for what defines adultery when he defined it as looking at a woman with lust. Male hormones are very powerful.

²⁷"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
²⁸But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt. 5:27-28)

Jesus celibacy is questionable; readers will have to decide for themselves. Groupie women followed him and his disciples through the cities and villages to "provide for them out of their means;" at least one was married.

¹Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him,
²and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
³and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. (Luke 8:1-3)

Near the end, there is a suggestion that he lost interest in the affections of Mary Magdalene when he told her not to hold him anymore. The Bible is very prudish about using stronger words for sexual contact. Like a mourning lover, Mary Magdalene is the only consistent name in all four Gospels who went first to visit Jesus' tomb (Matt. 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:10, John 20:1).

^16>Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
¹⁷Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."(John 20:16-17)

We can't say for sure if Jesus committed the sin of lust, but there are grounds for suspicion.