The unaccountable Jesus
We sometimes make a great deal, in evangelical circles, of accountability. How fascinating then, to see the attitude of Jesus as he lived on this earth when he was asked to hold people to account:
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:13-14)
Surely here was a case where we might expect that Jesus, Lord of all creation, might exercise his lordship by calling sinners to account. But this is something he categorically refuses to do. The time will come when, by means of the resurrection, he will be able to say that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18; compare with Rom 1:4). But for Jesus, his time has not yet come.
How much more should we (who, unlike Jesus, have not yet been resurrected) imitate his humility and refuse to call people to account when we have no license to do so! Rather,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:5-11)
If we are to be genuinely accountable to God, we should not hold brothers and sisters in Christ to account any more than Jesus did when he walked on earth.