After all, he is fallible and endearingly human.

I am referring to a specific mistake that I may have made, or did I?

I freely admit I wasn’t thinking this complexly in the moment, although it was premeditated in that I planned to say it. My mistakes often flow from unplanned moments. But this was planned.

Here is the setup: I preached this morning (17 March 2024) from the Gospel of Luke 23:26-31. I am very impressed and stirred in my soul by Jesus’ last sermon here on the way out of Jerusalem in which he turns to the weeping and crying people following him and says, ‘Don’t weep for me weep for yourselves . . .’ and continues on with a warning about the coming hardships upon them. I made a brilliant, if I do say so myself, homiletical pivot at that moment to a very contemporary application.

But that wasn’t the possible moment of mistake.

In highlighting Jesus’ sermon, I was attempting to show how Jesus pulled himself together to audibilize this lengthy, poetic, prophetic, and meaningful sermon and what I was trying to communicate was how hard it would have been for Jesus to even speak, especially to speak loud enough to be heard in this chaotic moment. He had been beaten, he was dehydrated, his face was swollen, and his eyes bloodied. Probably his nose was dislocated. Hold that thought for a moment: a dislocated nose given the beating he’d endured would have been very likely. To quote the great prophet on his visage:

Just as there were many who were astonished at him–so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form. beyond that of mortals.

Isaiah 52:14

But none of that was the possible mistake.

What I said in the sermon, and I think I said it twice, was that his ‘jaw was broken.’ The point I was trying to emphasize was the beating he’d taken and the way it would have been hard, painful, almost impossible, for him to even open his mouth at this point let alone speak with any kind of enunciation and projection.

Ah, but here is the thing. Someone in our congregation, a very bright soul, pointed out to me that the Bible is clear on Jesus and his bones. Again, to quote the importance of this to the Passover meal:

They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the passover they shall keep it.

Numbers 9:12

Christ is our Passover. It is important his bones not be broken. Again we can quote the Psalms:

He keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken.

Psalm 34:20

The Fourth Gospel takes it further and draws the line for us by saying it was important his bones were not broken:

These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘None of his bones shall be broken.’

John 19:36

So, was I wrong when I said that Jesus’ jaw was broken? Of course, this was just me painting the scene, I don’t know anything for definite except he was beaten very badly and I can only imagine the pain he was in (Oh the thought that he bore that pain for me! Thank you, Lord).

When I said his jaw was broken, what I had in my mind was more of a dislocation that is common from being punched and beaten about the head rather than an actual fracture of the jawbone. Now, I am not a medical doctor and the terminology is way beyond my field of expertise, but I think I can be right and still be wrong at the same time on this issue.

First, I was wrong to even use the word break in context with a possible bone of Jesus. It is sloppy and if could go back in time I would avoid that description and use other language to describe the labored breathing, the pain in his face, and the difficult he would have had in speaking. So that is where I was wrong. I completely affirm the biblical teaching and importance that his bones were not broken. To insinuate otherwise is to make mistake.

But, in our common vernacular a broken jaw is often, I think, used to describe a dislocated jaw, like a dislocated nose (see above) where things just aren’t where they are supposed to be. It could be very possible, I think, and still fulfill scriptural promises, that the Lord had a dislocated jaw but his bones were whole.

The point of the broken bones, though, isn’t about the face. It is about the forthcoming action of the Roman soldiers who come to break the bone of Jesus’ legs so he will hurry up and die already. Crucifixion could last days, and they wanted the three executed men good and dead before Sabbath. The breaking of bones hastens that — but the Bible clearly demonstrates Jesus giving up his spirit early, thus none of his bones were broken because he gave his life, no one took it. The prophetic words of the Old Testament are demonstrating that from hundreds of years earlier.

Actually, the real point, is I am in awe of the pain the Lord endured, what love!