Holy Week - the week in the Christian calendar culminating with the Easter weekend - has led me to thinking this year about how the life of Jesus relates to Narcissism/NPD. I have a beloved partner with NPD and he is a born-again Christian, his faith matters to him as mine does to me. For this week, I will be taking the chronological events of the last week of Jesus's humanity from the Amplified translation of the Bible and putting down some ponderings 'n' songs or prayers of relevance. There will be a link to copy/paste at the end of each passage of Scripture if you want to look at it in context. I hope you enjoy these Holy Week devotionals, may you be blessed by what you find here, thanks .

[12] And Jesus went into the temple (whole temple enclosure) and drove out all who bought and sold in the sacred place, and He turned over the four-footed tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who sold doves. [13] He said to them, The Scripture says, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers. [14] And the blind and the lame came to Him in the porches and courts of the temple, and He cured them.
[15] But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He did and the boys and the girls and the youths and the maidens crying out in the porches and courts of the temple, Hosanna (O be propitious, graciously inclined) to the Son of David! they were indignant. [16] And they said to Him, Do You hear what these are saying? And Jesus replied to them, Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have made (provided) perfect praise'? [17] And leaving them, He departed from the city and went out to Bethany and lodged there. MATTHEW 21:12-17 (Amp)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+21&version=AMP;NIV

Jesus was both fully human and fully God and began His ministry three years before this week at the age of 30. The day before, He had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey colt to throngs of people hailing Him as King - there was a buzz in the city because He'd been teaching and performing miracles and had a reputation as a powerful man, a liberator, a revolutionary prophet of God. Some people found Him gentle and loving, others found Him to be a hard rock they crashed into but everybody had heard of Him and everybody had an opinion, he was famous. The Narcissist in my life is a public figure, crowds of fans think he's awesome but sometimes those who spend time with him come a cropper because he has narcissistic rages when his defences rise up and he attacks the offender with harsh words and spiteful, disdainful behaviors. This incident of 'table tipping' gets cited to me often as my partner's justification for being 'assertive' and strong-tongued when he has a rage. There are flaws to his argument however...

The money changers & merchants knew full well that they were being profane in a sacred space. They were changing Roman coins into Jewish ones for people to pay the Temple taxes and dealing in animals to be offered for the sacrifices, they knew that the Scripture Jesus quoted completely convicted them of their crime. So Jesus drove them away with justification and trashed their market place because they'd done something very wrong - they would likely have been corrupt at their job too. Narcissistic rage is not as logically explained as 'telling someone off for something they've done wrong'. The reason behind N rage is often hidden from the target and whereas Jesus was defending God's house of prayer as a righteous thing that everyone would benefit from, N rage is a personal attack that is destructive in delivery and outcome. People were not afraid of Jesus after the ruckus, the weak and needy came to him for help immediately afterwards and He did indeed heal and love and release people from what ailed them. N rage can inspire fear and turn the strong into weaklings and create trauma instead of healing it.

Jesus was personally affronted by the blasphemy of the set-up in the Temple courts - after all, He was God, it was His house lol - but He didn't devalue individuals nor go on a campaign of terror. He utilised the passion of His anger for immediate removal of the problem and then continued on with His ministry, bearing no malice. When my partner suffers a Narcissistic Injury, it is because he has been affronted too, he's been disrespected (or thinks he has been) and reacts from fear, shame & anger, his outbursts are out of his control and take a long time for him to settle down again afterwards, it puts him right off what he is supposed to be doing for days sometimes. Because he has low self-esteem and is unsure of himself, he doesn't respond to problems like Jesus did here, Jesus was completely in control and self-assured, He knew how much power He had at His disposal but behaved proportionately to the offence.

After Jesus had done right by Jewish Law and cleaned up the Temple, cured the afflicted and received praises for his holy and loving manner, gaining even more respect from the crowds, the religious leaders and scribes were 'indignant' (other translations say 'angry', 'sore displeased'). They were not happy that Jesus made their jobs easier and joyful that He was a great ally in the faith, oh no. They were jealous and envious and busy putting on a false front to the world while keeping a self-centred agenda in their hearts. This group of leaders were contentious and proud and living behind a mask of holiness when Jesus had already bagged them out on numerous occasions previously for being hypocrites and leading innocent people astray. The children called Jesus 'Son of David' the man in the royal line, the rightful King of the Jewish nation and the chief priests were really not happy to give Jesus credit for being who He was and behaving in the wonderful way He did.

It seems to me at times, that my partner identifies more strongly with the chief priests & scribes than with Jesus. Jesus walked away from His detractors and avoided a battle, using words of Scripture the leaders would know by heart yet again - pointing out actual wrong-doing but then walking away without slamming them. But then I consider the situation myself, having been a Minister. I know how tempting it is to have that bit of power and a great reputation for being upright and have throngs of people who listen to you and praise you and when someone else comes along with wisdom or revelation from God... up pops the pride ...
It's very human to become indignant at someone more talented, popular or 'right' than yourself. It's easy to let the 'little things' slide because you consider yourself above the mundane workings of every day; to not want to get involved with righting wrongs you could do something about or let your anger run away and cause harm. Do I gossip with peers who are also affronted, do I choose a peaceful response to someone who comes after me or do I antagonise and stay in there for a verbal scrap? Would I ever have a rage attack? Moi? Never say never... I have to consider that I could just as easily be identified with the mockers & robbers and not with Jesus at times myself - and I don't have a PD as a reason! There's a beautiful & thought-provoking song I value called 'Do they see Jesus in me?', I think I shall have a listen, the lyrics are on the video .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwiF3HE4cQ8 - 'Do they see Jesus in me?' by Joy Williams