Masculinity is a controversial subject in today's day and age. As men, we are constantly being bombarded with different messages about what it means to be a man. From the old John Wayne movies to the Clint Eastwood depictions and then even to movies like The Expendables, we are shown images of what a real man should look like. As a result, many of us believe that a real man is a rugged tough guy who shows absolutely no emotion whatsoever. Actually, we are told that emotion is a sign of weakness because it is too feminine. What exactly is Toxic Masculinity, you ask? According to the Dictionary, it is,
"a set of attitudes or ways of behaving stereotypically with or expected of men regarded as having a negative impact on men and on society as a whole"
We seem to believe that only women are allowed to express any type of emotion. On the other hand, today we are told that a real man is much too feminine, especially from those who would like to redefine manhood into their own image. However, what we as Christians should be concerned about is what the Bible says about manhood. Well, we do not have to look any further than the four Gospels. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ perfectly depicted what true manhood looks like. In this blog, I shall explain how Jesus' character was and how it shows us as Christian men what we should strive to emulate. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a few things that perfectly encapsulate true manhood. These characteristics are the following:
1) He was a leader
2) He was bold for the Truth
3) He expressed emotion
I will elaborate on all three of these points, but I would like to first say that these are not the only points in the life of Jesus that we can see Him perfectly embody manhood. There are by far much more points, but these are the main ones I will be focusing on for this blog. If you can think of any others, please feel free to leave a comment below. Now, time to elaborate on my points.
He was a leader
In Matthew 9:36, right after Jesus finished preaching in all the nearby villages and healing all kinds of sickness, we read the following,
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd"
As you can see from this text, Jesus saw that the people were lost because they did not have anyone to lead them. I love the analogy of sheep without a shepherd because it perfectly describes humanity. We are all lost sheep without Christ to lead us. In John 10:1-3. we read the following word from our Lord,
"Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them"
Jesus Christ is the shepherd of His people. He is the quintessential leader of His flock. He calls us each by name and we know His voice and follow Him. There is no one else for us to follow for He holds the words to eternal life.
He was bold for the Truth
In John 2:13-16, we read of the following account,
"The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, 'Take these things away, do not make my Father's house a house of trade'"
As you can see, Jesus cared deeply for what was true. He saw that the money changers were using the temple to achieve unjust gain and He very violently rushed them out of the temple because He cared that much for the Truth. He was not for people being taken advantage of by lies. This is an image of Jesus that we do not see in modern depictions. We are so used to seeing images of a "blond-haired shampoo artist, as one of my favorite pastors once said. This depiction of Christ would make a lot of professing Christians blush, but it truly shows how tough Jesus really is. He does not play any games with people.
He expressed emotion
In John 11, we read of the death of Lazarus. In this text, Jesus waited for four days before He decided to go to him. It is unclear as to why He waited four days because by now Lazarus would have already been in the tomb, but we know that He did wait. When He and the disciples finally did go, they were greeted by Mary and Martha, who after a brief exchange, led them to the tomb of Lazarus. What we read next is very touching. In verses 33-35, we read the following,
"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who were with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to him, 'Lord, come and see'. Jesus wept."
Dr. Michael Horton once said that the Greek word for "wept" here was more like a snort from a horse. In other words, Jesus cried His eyes out. The reason why Christ cried so vividly, despite knowing that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, was because He was greatly moved by the curse of sin that brought death. In this depiction of Jesus, we see a man who was not afraid to express deep emotion. He was not afraid of anyone calling him feminine or weak either. At this moment, He was feeling all the pain and sorrow one would feel at someone's funeral ceremony. Another prime example of Jesus expressing emotion is Luke 22:43-44. In that text, we read the following,
"And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground"
As you can tell, this incident happened during His time when He was praying to Father at the Mount of Olives, He was anticipating His betrayal and being handed over to the Pharisees in order to be killed. The text says that he was in so much agony that he literally sweat drops of blood. This may seem like an odd occurrence, but according to medical professionals is very realistic. According to the National Institute of Health, this is called hemotohidrosis. They say the following about this disorder,
"hematidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood' it occurs under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress"
As you can see, Jesus was feeling an extreme amount of anxiety over what He was facing. He knew that the weight of the world's sins were going to be upon His shoulders and that The Father would momentarily turn His back on Him. Jesus was no stranger to human emotions of stress and anxiety. This the reason why I say not all anxiety is sinful because Jesus felt anxiety, yet He was without sin.
I hope that this blog helps you better understand what exactly biblical masculinity looks like compared to toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity is something that we must reject, but biblical masculinity is something that we must embrace as Christian men. We should look to Jesus for what makes a real man instead of what Hollywood tells us what a man is. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
"a set of attitudes or ways of behaving stereotypically with or expected of men regarded as having a negative impact on men and on society as a whole"
We seem to believe that only women are allowed to express any type of emotion. On the other hand, today we are told that a real man is much too feminine, especially from those who would like to redefine manhood into their own image. However, what we as Christians should be concerned about is what the Bible says about manhood. Well, we do not have to look any further than the four Gospels. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ perfectly depicted what true manhood looks like. In this blog, I shall explain how Jesus' character was and how it shows us as Christian men what we should strive to emulate. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a few things that perfectly encapsulate true manhood. These characteristics are the following:
1) He was a leader
2) He was bold for the Truth
3) He expressed emotion
I will elaborate on all three of these points, but I would like to first say that these are not the only points in the life of Jesus that we can see Him perfectly embody manhood. There are by far much more points, but these are the main ones I will be focusing on for this blog. If you can think of any others, please feel free to leave a comment below. Now, time to elaborate on my points.
He was a leader
In Matthew 9:36, right after Jesus finished preaching in all the nearby villages and healing all kinds of sickness, we read the following,
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd"
As you can see from this text, Jesus saw that the people were lost because they did not have anyone to lead them. I love the analogy of sheep without a shepherd because it perfectly describes humanity. We are all lost sheep without Christ to lead us. In John 10:1-3. we read the following word from our Lord,
"Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them"
Jesus Christ is the shepherd of His people. He is the quintessential leader of His flock. He calls us each by name and we know His voice and follow Him. There is no one else for us to follow for He holds the words to eternal life.
He was bold for the Truth
In John 2:13-16, we read of the following account,
"The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, 'Take these things away, do not make my Father's house a house of trade'"
As you can see, Jesus cared deeply for what was true. He saw that the money changers were using the temple to achieve unjust gain and He very violently rushed them out of the temple because He cared that much for the Truth. He was not for people being taken advantage of by lies. This is an image of Jesus that we do not see in modern depictions. We are so used to seeing images of a "blond-haired shampoo artist, as one of my favorite pastors once said. This depiction of Christ would make a lot of professing Christians blush, but it truly shows how tough Jesus really is. He does not play any games with people.
He expressed emotion
In John 11, we read of the death of Lazarus. In this text, Jesus waited for four days before He decided to go to him. It is unclear as to why He waited four days because by now Lazarus would have already been in the tomb, but we know that He did wait. When He and the disciples finally did go, they were greeted by Mary and Martha, who after a brief exchange, led them to the tomb of Lazarus. What we read next is very touching. In verses 33-35, we read the following,
"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who were with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to him, 'Lord, come and see'. Jesus wept."
Dr. Michael Horton once said that the Greek word for "wept" here was more like a snort from a horse. In other words, Jesus cried His eyes out. The reason why Christ cried so vividly, despite knowing that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, was because He was greatly moved by the curse of sin that brought death. In this depiction of Jesus, we see a man who was not afraid to express deep emotion. He was not afraid of anyone calling him feminine or weak either. At this moment, He was feeling all the pain and sorrow one would feel at someone's funeral ceremony. Another prime example of Jesus expressing emotion is Luke 22:43-44. In that text, we read the following,
"And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground"
As you can tell, this incident happened during His time when He was praying to Father at the Mount of Olives, He was anticipating His betrayal and being handed over to the Pharisees in order to be killed. The text says that he was in so much agony that he literally sweat drops of blood. This may seem like an odd occurrence, but according to medical professionals is very realistic. According to the National Institute of Health, this is called hemotohidrosis. They say the following about this disorder,
"hematidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood' it occurs under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress"
As you can see, Jesus was feeling an extreme amount of anxiety over what He was facing. He knew that the weight of the world's sins were going to be upon His shoulders and that The Father would momentarily turn His back on Him. Jesus was no stranger to human emotions of stress and anxiety. This the reason why I say not all anxiety is sinful because Jesus felt anxiety, yet He was without sin.
I hope that this blog helps you better understand what exactly biblical masculinity looks like compared to toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity is something that we must reject, but biblical masculinity is something that we must embrace as Christian men. We should look to Jesus for what makes a real man instead of what Hollywood tells us what a man is. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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