Someone one day mentioned to me that Jesus was a law breaker. They mentioned that Jesus broke all established law and behaved like a rebel. He was not shackled by the chains of society and lived like a outlaw. Maybe this is an excuse for some of us to disrespect authority and live life like a rebel.
Is this true. Was Jesus really an outlaw. Was he a Robinhood? Was Jesus a rebel who rebelled against all established authority?
Let's look at how Jesus conducted Himself when He was on this earth.
Jesus was an obedient son to His earthly parents. In Luke 2:51 & 51 we read that as a young boy Jesus was obedient to His parents. Then Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Jesus obeyed authority He spoke the truth boldly and exposed their deception but he never spoke for the sake of argument or to exert authority. In fact though it was not necessary for Him to pay the temple tax but he did pay the taxas we read in Matthew 17:24-27 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” Read for yourself what is recorded in Mark 12: 13-17 about His opinion on paying taxes to Caesar Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Jesus in His words. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and seek favor from no one. Indeed, You are impartial and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not?” But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denariusc to inspect.” So they brought it, and He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Jesus was an obedient son to His heavenly Father. He didn’t heal on the sabbath because He wanted to rebel. He pleaded his case by stating that He had come to do His Father's will and when He sees His Father work He needs to work and He is not breaking a commandment of God. He said that he cannot use His own reasoning and choose to not heal on the Sabbath because He was not trying to please Himself or the people but His Heavenly Father. A people pleaser would definitely try to postpone the healing to some other day or do it in private and not offend the religious leaders and get into their bad books. In Hebrews 5:7, 8 we read "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;" Philippians 2:8 says that Jesus was obedient to the Father even to the point of being nailed to a cross. These verses clearly shows that Jesus had lot of Gethsemane instances throughout His life. He had to struggle between doing His will and the Will of His Father. He had to struggle to align His will to that of His Father. Though we see Him as a sort of a rebel who was rebelling against authority and trying to do things His way, that was far from the truth. Jesus was struggling at nights submitting His will to His Father so that during day time He could do His Father’s will. In fact His Father commended him multiple times saying that Jesus was His beloved Son in Whom He was well pleased.
