A Qualified Yes

Did Jesus ever complain?

Complaining seems like such an ungodly thing to do. You've probably heard sermons about how complainers are just being ungrateful. Complaining sounds like you don't think God is doing enough on your behalf. But if Jesus complained, then these statements about complaining can't be completely correct. So ... did He?

In Matthew 16:8-11, the disciples were arguing about bread (again), and Jesus comes down pretty hard on them. He says they are men of little faith and berates them for arguing. He criticizes them for not believing more deeply considering all the things they have seen Him do, and nails them for their lack of Kingdom priorities. He seems to be complaining. And this is not the only instance. He cuts them down to size about not being able to cast out a demon and particularly for sleeping at the crucial hour He asked them to start alert and to pray.

Some may say that's not complaining, but disciplining them. When He cries over Jerusalem for rejecting the prophets God has sent to them, at least that sounds more like a complaint than discipline. But whether it's a complaint or some other form of expressing discontent, there's one thing for sure - whenever Jesus does it, it's always related to something about the Kingdom of God.

He doesn't complain about bad weather or ugly shoes or a poorly-prepared meal. He doesn't whine about how hard His life is or that He has been treated unfairly. Every time He expresses discontent, it is because someone is rejecting or assailing the Kingdom of God, including those times when His own followers fail to embrace all that the Kingdom has to offer.

Did Jesus ever weep? Of course (John 11:35). But He did not weep because His friend had died, or even that others around Him were sad. He wept because the Kingdom of God was right before these people, and they were ignoring it, instead choosing to embrace a fleshly perspective. They didn't think He was doing things in the right way, and that the circumstances were greater than He is. Yet, His message had consistently been that the Messiah has come, that He is greater than all these things, and that He is ushering in God's Kingdom.

Did Jesus ever pray? Of course He did. He prayed perpetually and fervently. And in a few cases, He prayed out loud and His disciples were able to record the content of His prayer. In every case, Jesus prayed about things related to the Kingdom of God. He did not pray for a less stressful life or for decisions to come easily. He did not pray for healing for it's own sake only, but always for a greater Kingdom-related purpose. He did not pray for the great trial before Him to be taken away, but for it to be taken away only if it did not run contrary to God's plans for His Kingdom.

Whether it's complaining (or whatever it should be called), weeping, or praying, or anything else Jesus really spent Himself on, it was always about the Kingdom of God.

As we grow in our faith, the same thing happens to us - more and more of what we care about, weep about, complain about, and pray about is related to the Kingdom of God and our place in it. We are still very aware of what's going on in this world, but how we see even the things of this world becomes defined by how those things relate (or don't relate) to the Kingdom.

We should invite and embrace that shift in our thinking. The norm for our faith should be a continual transition toward Kingdom-mindedness. We should never stagnate, where we come to faith, adopt a Christian perspective and attitude, and then just continue to let the world dominate our thinking. Rather, we should always be moving toward a complete Kingdom-minded worldview, where we see even the things of this world in terms of the eternal Kingdom.

This is especially true in our prayer life. My prayer life is still much too focused on things quite unrelated to the Kingdom, or things that are important, but that I'm not thinking about them in terms of how they relate to the Kingdom. I want my prayer life to become more about God's Kingdom. I want all of our prayer lives to become completely infused with Kingdom-mindedness.

When we close our prayer with "In Jesus' name," one of the things we should mean by that phrase is, "This is the kind of prayer Jesus would pray."