What is Manliness?

If you read Christian blogs you have probably already seen this by now. You can read about it here.

I get where Mark is going with this. I agree that we do have a lack of male leadership in most American churches (if not worldwide) and our vision of gentle Jesus meek and mild is perhaps a bit too ubiquitous. Any serious reading of the book of Revelation will show that Jesus is the all-powerful Lord of history and will conquer over his enemies on the last day with surety and finality. Jesus it as powerful as it gets. Jesus was the ultimate man, given that our definition of "man" is defined by him from his Word and not ESPN.

In light of Mark's comments I have to ask...

What is "manly" (in the hairy chest thumping, beer pounding, sense that Mark seems to advocate) about a lamb to the slaughter?

Yes, Jesus was not a "hippee in a dress" singing sentimental love songs to God, but I feel like Mark paints him as an a#$ kicking kind of guy who would love to jump in the ring to contend for the UFC title belt. I love Mark's teaching, but when he talks about this issue, it doesn't sit with me very well. Maybe, it's not what he says in terms of the idea, but the words he chooses to describe it. I'm not sure. I get where he is going, but would phrase it much differently. Maybe it's just simply overstatement to make a point and to raise awareness. As with most issues, this is also a function of Mark's personality and that needs to be taken into account as well.

Maybe I'm just a wuss.