One of the more surprising things about Jesus’ public image in Christian imagination is how thoroughly it has been sanitized. Nowhere is this clearer than how anger—or even assertiveness—is handled in the Gospel narratives. If we are to reclaim the image of Jesus as the fierce and protective shepherd, we must wrestle honestly with the reality that Jesus got angry, and his anger was not peripheral to his ministry—it was integral to it.
Consider Mark 1:41, where Jesus is approached by a man with tzaraʿat (commonly rendered “leprosy”) who says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” The New Revised Standard Version, translated from the Nestle-Aland/UBS critical text, uses the Greek word splagchnistheis (moved with pity, compassion) in its translation:
“Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!'”
The NIV, however, using the Codex Bezae, an older variant, orgistheis (moved with anger or indignation), translate Mark 1:41 as follows:
“Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!'”
Which reading is more likely to reflect the original autograph? Many (most?) scholars agree that orgistheis constitutes an earlier and more difficult reading1. In this light, scholars believe it would be unlikely that a scribe would change a compassionate Jesus into an angry one. However, the reverse—a scribe replacing “anger” with “compassion”—makes perfect sense in a Christian tradition increasingly uncomfortable with a wrathful Christ. Here we have two different manuscript traditions that are inconsistent in describing Jesus’ attitude toward His petitioner.
Even more telling is the response of the other Gospel writers. Matthew and Luke borrow this scene from Mark but omit any reference to Jesus’ mood. If Mark had written “moved with compassion,” why would they remove a detail that dovetails with their preconceived notion of a gentle Jesus? The answer is straightforward: Where Mark portrays Jesus as angry, Matthew and Luke soften the scene or omit it entirely. For example:
- In Mark 3:5, Jesus becomes angry at the synagogue attendees’ stubbornness. In Luke’s account (Luke 6), this anger is omitted. In Matthew, the story is rewritten altogether.
- In Mark 10:14, Jesus is indignant with his disciples for preventing children from coming to Him. Both 19:14 and Luke 18:16 retain the narrative but remove the anger.
This consistent pattern across the Synoptics suggests that the more fiery Jesus—the one who gets frustrated, rebukes, and challenges—was later softened for theological or pastoral purposes.
However, Mark is unflinching. After healing the leper, Jesus “sternly charges him and casts him out.” These Greek verbs used here—embrimēsamenos and ekebalen—are strong, even violent terms. Elsewhere in Mark, they are used to rebuke demons and drive them out. The idea of a “gentle” Jesus tenderly embracing a man begging for help is absent in the newer manuscripts. In the older traditions, Jesus is forceful. Authoritative. Demanding.
Jesus is not a man tenderly bestowing blessings on the afflicted. He is a commanding, confrontational shepherd, fiercely protective of his role and mission. In this spirit, Mark portrays Jesus as one who:
- Battles Satan in the wilderness
- Calls for radical repentance
- Requires disciples to leave families
- Casts out demons with commanding force
- Rebukes, sickness, and storms alike
- Acts on his divine prerogative
- Scorns ostentatious piety
- Rebukes and even “throws out” those who disturb his mission
- Overturns tables in the Temple and whips the vendors.
This interpretation does not imply that Jesus is not compassionate. Jesus is angered by sin, impatient with hypocrisy, and intolerant of Torah shallowness. Jesus is, in every way, the kind of shepherd who lays down his life not because He is gentle but because of his fierce commitment to those He protects.
This image complements—not contradicts—the earlier portrait of the biblical shepherd2. It is not the lamb-cuddling Jesus of Sunday School murals but the rod-wielding, lion-killing shepherd of Psalm 23 and 1 Samuel 17. Moreover, it is crucially the Jesus of the Gospels. Just not the parts we often quote.
Now, Go and Study
- This idea is called the principle of lectio difficilior potior—the more difficult reading is more likely to be closer to the original
- This essay is excerpted from Chapter Two of Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time