Credits for the inspiration of writing this article first and foremost go to Christian rapper, Lecrae who sings the song "Rebel" about Jesus' life on earth; how He lived we should live also.

"Jesus, a rebel! What is she thinking?" I can imagine that some of my readers were thinking this exact same thought upon glancing at the title.

"Jesus, the man who supposedly did no wrong and loved the world so much that He died for it, a rebel? She must be crazy!"

I am crazy, just crazy for Jesus! In all reality, Jesus truly was a rebel in his culture. Nowadays, when we think of a rebel (unless we happen to be in a history class learning about wars and such), we picture a typical "sinner" in our minds. Someone who has taken another's life, an alcoholic, a prostitute, a pathological liar, someone who doesn't fit into society, you name it.

However, Jesus completely distorts the definition of "rebel" when it is applied to Him. According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, the definition of a rebel is a person "opposing or taking arms against a government or ruler." Obviously, Jesus did not murder anyone while on earth, but He was the opposition to the government of the day - Satan, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees and the entire culture across the globe!

Matthew 9: 10-13 says, "As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' So he got up and followed Him.

While He was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came as guests to eat with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees (some of the religious leaders of the day) saw this, they asked, 'Why does your teacher sit with tax collectors and sinners?'

But when He (Jesus) heard this, He said, 'Those who are well don't need a doctor, but the sick do. Go, and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners."'

Wow! What a powerful example of Jesus as a rebel. In the Jewish culture, the people were supposed to outright avoid sinners, but here Jesus was, going out of His way to sit with the very people that were frowned upon in Jewish society. He not only sat by those who were unclean in heart, but He also said that He didn't come to call the righteous, but that instead, He came for the sinners.

What a shock this must have been to the Pharisees, the very people who saw themselves as very, very righteous men. The Pharisees attempted to keep all of the laws in the Old Testament and looked down upon anyone who had a visible flaw. Yet, here is Jesus, saying that religion doesn't cut it; that He came to rescue those who know that they have sinned and are flawed, not the ones who think they have it all together.

Is that not enough for you? How about when Jesus healed a man with leprosy? Lepers were ceremoniously unclean, and nobody would dare touch a person with nasty, festering sores!

Nobody aside from Jesus, that is! Mark 1: 40-43 says, "Then a man with a serious skin disease came to Him and, on his knees, begged Him: 'If You are willing, You can make me clean.'

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. 'I am willing,' He told him. 'Be made clean.' Immediately the disease left him, and he was healed."

Are we reading the same Scripture? Did Jesus really reach out His hand and touch a leper? Yes, He did! That is the God I believe in, the One who defied cultural norms by physically touching an unclean man with sores all over his body. Jesus here was shunning the way of the culture by having compassion on a leper and touching him when no-one else would.

How about one more example of the rebellious Jesus seen in Scripture?

Isaiah 53: 5-7, 12, "But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all... Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, He did not open His mouth... He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels."

Jesus died on a tree for my sins, for your sins. All because the Sanhedrin and Pharisees believed He was a rebel, a sinner, when He was perfect and without sin. He didn't deserve to be humiliated and tortured on the cross for our sinful ways.

Are you still thinking, "That's not rebellious."? Think about our culture: How often will somebody lay down his life for another person? John 15:13 says, "No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends."

Maybe for a loved one, a young child, or a good person, someone might lay down their life, but it does not happen very often. Left to our own devices, we would never choose to die for someone who is below us, a worse person than we are. Jesus, who never committed any sin, died on the cross for exactly that; He allowed Himself to be murdered for you, and for me, when we aren't even worthy to kiss His feet.

There's another way He rebelled in this act of selflessness; we deserve to be hanging there on that tree, but He rebelled against Satan and sin and death in one final ounce of courage - He literally willingly gave up His life, beaten and mocked, tortured, and murdered, and then rose from the dead three days later, beating sin, death, and Satan once and for all so that we can have an eternal life in Heaven (which sin keeps us from entering.)

Jesus rebelled against the culture when He died on the cross, dying for people who didn't deserve it, when the culture would never consider doing that. Can you imagine a Pharisee dying for a tax collector? No chance of that happening!

Jesus rebelled - fought and won - saving us from an eternal hell, conquering the grave and death and sin against Satan in a final battle over our souls.

I'm confident I've convinced you now of seeing Jesus not only as a peace-maker, a great teacher, the compassionate Son of God, but also as a rebel against the culture of the world, and ultimately, sin, death, and Satan.

Like the lyrics to "Rebel" by Lecrae, "I know in our day rebel means sinner, but everyone is sinning, so it’s no longer rebellious to sin!... Jesus was a rebel who was counter-cultural."

Will you follow this counter-cultural Jesus and rebel like He did, refusing to conform to society's expectation of you? He's waiting! Follow Him!