Jesus – the Gemini personality

22/05/09 | Posted by Steve Hollinghurst

There are certain people who have the ‘gift of the gab’; they may be at turns funny and witty or they can tie you up in knots in a debate. Such people demonstrate the Gemini Personality. Yet on other occasions ‘two faced’ might be how they are described. How might Jesus demonstrate this personality type and help those who posses it to avoid the negative traits and deepen the positive?

 Gemini (traditionally 22nd May – 21st June)

The basis of the Gemini Personality is in the air/mind element (see the introduction to this series). Behind the quick tongue is a quick mind. These people are always curious they want to know what’s going on and are highly adaptable in their thinking and action, enabling them to respond quickly to changes in situation. This is why they are so good at the witty one-liner and so skilled in debate. This debating skill is emphasized for them because they are primarily focused on interaction with people rather than abstract ideas. 

We see this personality in Jesus especially when he is debating with the religious leaders of his day. On several occasions they asked him trick questions hoping to use the answer against him. One of these was when they asked if they, Jewish people, should pay taxes to the occupying Roman authorities, hoping his answer would either render him liable to prosecution by those authorities or enable him to be painted as a collaborator with them against his own people. He asked them to hand him a coin and asked them whose head was on it? ‘Caesar’s’ they responded, ‘then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s’ he replied, not only avoiding the trap but changing the subject to devotion to God, something he wanted to challenge them about. 

This personality type can however treat life as a game; the debates and witticism becoming exercises in superficial entertainment or one-upmanship. Debates can be undertaken for the sake of it whilst the Gemini person acts as devil’s advocate and then when others are wound up in argument they simply laugh it off and say ‘only kidding’. Their curiosity and talkativeness can also lead them to delight in passing on the latest gossip if they are living at this superficial level.  Developing the qualities of the fire/heart element will help the Gemini personality to grow and move away from these negative traits. This is because the emotional level is engaged, preventing relationships from being an intellectual exercise. People are cared about and causes deemed important.  None of this should dull the wit or sense of fun these people display, but these are channelled to the betterment of the lives of others.

Jesus shows this by focusing his quick wit to help people to move forward, often challenging them with questions or riddles that seek to help them open up to the deeper dimension of life. As in the example above he gets people to focus on the important issues and avoids arguments that are going nowhere or are simply tricks of debate. On another occasion we see his quick thinking saving the life of a woman about to be stoned to death for adultery. ‘Whoever of you has never done anything wrong yourself can cast the first stone’ he says to the executors. No stones are thrown. His compassion is then as always turned to a challenge for the rescued woman to change the way she has lived. Whatever our personality type Jesus shows us how to grow the best of it’s traits and challenges us to move away from the worst. More than this he offers us the power to change that we often lack.

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