The Actions of Jesus

So, I've been doing this thing during my quiet time. I started thinking about being more like Jesus, and I decided that the best way to understand His life is to study it. (Duh.) But I mean, really study it. So a couple of months ago I started reading the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and underlining every action/verb/state of being that the Scriptures said about Jesus. I tallied the words as I went so that, in the end, I would have a nice list of what Jesus did and how often He did it. My studying looked like this:

It took much longer than it normally would have taken to read through the Gospels. Rather than read 8-10 chapters a day, I was reading 2-3. But my results were so cool.

So, when most people think about Jesus, they think about 2 things. First, they think about His healings. He cast out demons, healed the lame, sick, and blind, and even raised a few people from the dead. Definitely memorable. Secondly, people remember the crucifixion. Because saving the world is sort of a big deal, you know?

Here's what I discovered. Each Gospel describes a pattern. When Jesus first exposed Himself for who He truly was/is, He performed miracles and taught. He quoted Scripture, gathered a few followers, and *BOOM* healed people everywhere. Then He taught some more. And some more. And some more. He put the Pharisees and Sadducees in their places with His profound teachings. Even His disciples, the people He spent the most time with, didn't understand half of the stuff He said. Jesus spent the majority of His ministry teaching, not healing or dying. (Though, as we all know, it was the dying and coming back to life that mattered most.) To show my point, the top three verbs I found associated with Jesus in the Scriptures were said (300), replied (83), and went (80). To heal/healed/healing was associated with Jesus only 17 times. (He healed more people than that - there were some instances where the healing was implied without using that exact wording.)

Here's another thing I learned. When I picture Jesus, I picture a peaceful, calm, serene man. That is not Jesus. That's the Jesus we all want to think of, because we imagine Him as perfect. But truth is, Jesus wasn't always happy. There are multiple places in Scripture where Jesus was downright angry. (Try and picture a calm person knocking over tables in the temple. Not possible.) And here's where we have to take a pause and clarify that anger is not sin. Scripture says that in our anger we are not to sin (Ephesians 4:26) and that even the Lord Himself can sometimes get angry (Psalm 145:8). The difference between Jesus's anger and the anger that I struggle with due to my impatience is that Jesus's anger was righteous. Jesus was angry for the Kingdom of God. I get angry for the Kingdom of Sarah. Huge difference.

So, this post will be long because I am including my entire list of verbs/actions/state of beings of Jesus. In my list, you will see the word followed by a number. The number indicates the number of times I found this words associated with Jesus in Scripture. Now, I'm not going to claim that I have studied and restudied Scripture and am certain that this is a flawless number, because that is not the case. I tried my hardest, but I could have fallen short. I hope you can offer me grace if you find an area where I have fallen short. Second, there are some instances where words include parenthesized words. In this case, the word appears some times associated with the word in parentheses, and sometimes without. In English, sent (out) - 14 means that I found the word sent associated with Jesus 14 times, and some of those times it was the phrase "sent out." (I tried to shorten the list when I could.)

A Note to my Grammar Nazi Friends:
 First off, I chose the phrase "actions of Jesus" because I know that if I say "Verbs of Jesus" then some people will want me to clarify between verbs, helping verbs, states of being, blah blah blah. If that's what you pay attention to in this list, then you might want to take a closer look at what Jesus has to say to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Second, there are going to be all sorts of tenses in this list. There will be infinitives, past-tense verbs, and so on. Please understand that in the context of Scripture, they make sense, even if they seem to be lacking something by themselves.

So, here we go, the life of Jesus...

said - 300

replied - 83

went - 80

asked/asking - 63

answered - 59

told - 44

saw - 31

took - 25

gave - 24

called/called out/calling - 24

began - 23

looked/looking - 20

left - 19

say/saying - 18

was - 17

heal/healed/healing - 17

came - 17

prayed/praying - 15

sent (out) - 14

entered - 14

teaching - 13

sat - 11

rebuked - 11

found - 11

withdrew - 10

touched - 10

knew - 10

gave thanks - 10

(had) finished - 9

taught - 8

stood (up)  - 8

spoke - 8

got (back) into - 7

broke - 7

stayed - 6

returned - 6

reached (out) - 6

heard - 6

drove/driving (out) - 6

continued - 6

warned - 5

to teach - 5

to speak - 5

put - 5

proclaiming - 5

knowing - 5

got up - 5

appeared - 5

went on to say/tell - 4

was hungry - 4

was going - 4

walking - 4

speaking - 4

reclined/reclining - 4

preach/preached/preaching - 4

placed - 4

ordered - 4

made - 4

loved - 4

had given thanks - 4

had compassion - 4

crossed - 4

cried out - 4

approached/approaching - 4

was talking - 3

was sitting - 3

was baptized - 3

was amazed - 3

walked - 3

traveled - 3

to pray - 3

stopped - 3

spit - 3

spent (the night) - 3

led - 3

declared - 3

commanded - 3

breathed - 3

arrived - 3

(to) say - 3

baptized/baptizing - 2

would not allow - 2

wept - 2

was troubled (in spirit) - 2

was transfigured - 2

was tempted - 2

was telling - 2

was teaching - 2

was taken up - 2

was sleeping - 2

was led by the Spirit - 2

was in - 2

was doing - 2

was deeply moved - 2

to leave - 2

taking - 2

stepped (into)  - 2

showed - 2

rose - 2

remaiend silent - 2

overturned - 2

meant - 2

lifted - 2

let - 2

lay/laying -  2

landed - 2

hid - 2

had gone - 2

go/going - 2

gave orders - 2

finished - 2

fell - 2

dismissed - 2

directed - 2

did not want - 2

did - 2

blessed - 2

bent down/over - 2

aware - 2

ate - 2

appointed - 2

telling - 1

wrote - 1

wrapped - 1

would not let - 1

would not entrust - 1

welcomed - 1

watched - 1

washing - 1

was standing - 1

was speaking - 1

was returning to - 1

was recognized - 1

was praying - 1

was obedient - 1

was near - 1

was met - 1

was led - 1

was leaving - 1

was having dinner - 1

was getting into - 1

was gaining - 1

was eating - 1

was distressed - 1

was condemned - 1

was coming - 1

was blessing - 1

was being - 1

was accused - 1

want - 1

used - 1

turning - 1

turned - 1

took off - 1

to write - 1

to wash - 1

to test - 1

to stay - 1

to spend the night - 1

to show - 1

to show - 1

to send - 1

to give - 1

to drive out - 1

testified - 1

taken - 1

straightened up - 1

stooped down - 1

started -1

slipping away - 1

sighed - 1

shone - 1

set out - 1

roled up - 1

revealed - 1

refuesd - 1

realized - 1

put on - 1

poured - 1

pointed out - 1

performed - 1

opened - 1

noticed - 1

no longer moved about - 1

moved - 1

met - 1

made no reply - 1

lived - 1

listening - 1

leaving - 1

learned - 1

knelt down - 1

kept on - 1

joined - 1

instructed - 1

increased - 1

helped - 1

had to go - 1

had spoken - 1

had silenced - 1

had raised - 1

had not entered - 1

had known - 1

had in mind - 1

had given - 1

had come from - 1

grew up - 1

got out - 1

gone - 1

gave up his spirit - 1

gave sight to - 1

gave no answer - 1

full of the Holy Spirit - 1

full of joy - 1

fell asleep - 1

fasted - 1

explained - 1

escaped - 1

drying - 1

divided - 1

distributed - 1

dipping - 1

did not wash - 1

did not take - 1

did not say - 1

did not need - 1

denounce - 1

demanded - 1

decided - 1

cured - 1

could not keep - 1

could not do - 1

coming - 1

climbed - 1

chose - 1

caught - 1

came down - 1

bowed - 1

became  1

added - 1