through the prism of jesus' life

i think most christians would agree the nature/character of god is most fully viewed through the life and death of jesus. he is our sole hope for salvation and the one to whom we seek to imitate our lives. we need look no further on how to develop our ethic than christ. god taking on flesh, living a perfect life, sacrificing, suffering and spending time with outcasts is our model for life and mission. our churches would do well to seek this model for which to establish a community.

having said that, how do we handle the tough ot passages and stories found throughout the ot that seem to almost contradict what christ came to bring? let me give you an example:

ii kings 2:23-25
"from there elisha went up to bethel. as he was walking along the road, some youths come out of the town and jeered at him. "go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "go on up, you baldhead!" he turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the lord. then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. and he went on to mount carmel and from there returned to samaria."

now this story has become near and dear to my heart. i am but a few years away from actually walking in elisha's shoes. i can hear the insults now. so, taking this story at face value it would seem perfectly appropriate for me - after having been mocked for my baldness - on my way to walmart, to call down curses on "youths" and demand god take their lives through a violent bear attack. when i first read this story it was kinda funny, but actually it is quite tragic and sad. young kids lost their lives this day b/c they were "making fun" of someone's baldhead. i should have been mauled at least 100 times by now!

so what am i to do with this? i have no hardcore answers - only more questions.

how does this mesh with the cross? how does this mesh with "turning the other cheek, loving our enemies and not returning evil for evil?"

god is god and i am not. but i believe god has shown us his perfect nature in christ and calls me to "be perfect as he is perfect." i can use the ot to learn more about our story and how god has acted throughout human history - but we(i) should be extremely careful not to draw wrong conclusions based on ot texts. i believe we cannot fully understand the nt without the ot - that alone makes the ot incredibly important! i am not advocating throwing it out, but i have heard people "misuse" ot scriptures to drive home a point, that simply can't be validated in the nt or life of jesus.

our ethic should model our god who incarnated himself in jesus christ!