Is it always bad to be misunderstood?
G.K. Chesterton said in his book Heretics “The man who is misunderstood has always this advantage over his enemies, that they do not know his weak point or his plan of campaign. They go out against a bird with nets and a fish with arrows.”
Consider the life and death of Jesus. Jesus is God who became a man. He explained that time and time again to people, through his words, through his kindness, through his miracles. Not even the people closest to him understood him correctly. Jesus was constantly misunderstood, so much so that he was beaten and murdered. People did not believe who he said he was. He claimed to be more than a man, to be God, and people killed him for it.
This looked like a great victory for Satan. This looked like God, THE GOD, was defeated. He was so misunderstood that he was killed by his very creation, and darkness overcame the light.
But Satan went for Jesus like a fisherman with arrows.
Jesus, by living perfectly, could not be contained by death. Jesus was ok with being misunderstood because he knew what was coming. He knew that his death would end in life, and not just for himself but for all those who would have faith in him. Jesus communicated perfectly. He was not the person who was misunderstood for miscommunication. He was misunderstood because he spoke the truth, and the people did not want to hear it.
This still happens today. We either understand or misunderstand Jesus. When we feel misunderstood by people, is it because we are communicating a God who came down to us to live perfectly because we have failed, who died and took our punishment upon himself, who was buried and rose three days later in a new body and ascended to the right hand of the Father, who is ruling and reigning over the earth right now and will return to resurrect those who have put their faith in him?
Sometimes we are misunderstood because we are mis-communicating. Are we communicating the truth or the lie? Are we communicating in ways that people can understand? Both questions are very important and if we fail at either, being misunderstood would be our own fault. But if we are misunderstood because of the truth we speak in a way that others can understand, we are probably just being like Jesus.
