Who is Jesus?
The story is told of the teacher in the art class who asked one of the young children what they were drawing.
“Jesus”, she said.
“But no one knows what Jesus looks like “observed the teacher.
“Well they will when I have finished” she said.
• For some Jesus is a mythological person.
• For some the name of Jesus is just a curse.
• For others he is a mysterious good man and teacher.
• For Moslems he is one of the main prophets whom they honour.
You don’t have to do much research to conclude that Jesus was the name given to a man who lived and died between about the year 4AD and 35AD (indeed our years are numbered from his lifetime). To establish history we go to written evidence and people’s experience. There is plenty of both for Jesus:
• There is loads of evidence in the letters and histories of the New Testament;
• There are the writings of contemporary non-Christian writers: Josephus (a Jewish historian), Tacitus & Pliny (Roman statesmen and historians), and Lucian (an Assyrian satirist);
• Some 2 billion people around the world follow him today, 2000 years later.
We believe, along with those 2 billion people that Jesus was born, lived and died in 1st Century Palestine and that he was resurrected from the dead on the third day, Easter Sunday.
We believe that he is the Son of God, which is to say that God revealed himself to us in the form of this “ordinary” man in order to make a way for us to restore relationship with God our creator.
That is who Jesus is
However, because we don’t have an actual human being with us now we need some help in knowing him. The bible tells us how. Here is the way the Apostle Paul reflects on who Jesus is,
Ephesians 1:17-23
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church which is his body.
V.17 We need the Spirit of God to really know Jesus.
When Jesus appeared to his disciples just after his resurrection from the dead they found it hard enough to believe. He invited them to touch the wounds from his crucifixion, he ate food with them. We don’t get to experience that. In fact Jesus said to the disciples,
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
And so we need the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit, whom he sent to us, to give us wisdom and revelation to know him better.
V.18 We need to have our hearts opened to understand how we should relate to him and what he is saying to us about our lives.
We don’t get to have a chat on the beach with Jesus as he helps us see God’s plan for our lives. Instead we need to experience him through the eyes of our heart – which is a poetic way of saying that we must get to know him with our whole being. We can discover that he has a plan for our lives; we are called to follow him and make a difference in the world.
V.19ff We are dealing with no ordinary person here but the ruler of the universe and we ask for his power with due respect and we step into his presence with care.
Nevertheless it is an awe-inspiring relationship not because he is using his power to humble and crush but because he is awe-inspiring. But this King of all kings issues a warm invitation for us to join him.
It is the invitation to join him in the dance.
It is the invitation to join him in the battle unit.
V.22 And finally, this Jesus expresses himself through the community of faith – otherwise known as the church. This is his body on earth now. This is Jesus with skin on. And when you discover who Jesus is and seek him with your heart, you join a community of 2 billion people – made up of smaller communities like the Vineyard here.
So we have looked at who Jesus is and how we can respond to him.
I want to challenge you to think about who Jesus is to you.
I spent some young years at an American boarding school in the Himalayas and was taught to play basketball before I learnt to kick a football (which explains a lot about my soccer skills). I love watching basketball and I have a memory of watching a professional game some years ago and noticing a bunch of children standing in a group getting autographs from one of the basketball stars. He was kneeling so the children could look into his face.
Then he stood up.
The children fell silent and fell back as they strained their necks to look up at the 6’8” giant above them.
In one moment he had been their friend and intimate. Smiling and chatting and signing autographs. The next they realised who he also was; the star athlete, their hero. The one they had all come to see.
When we think about who Jesus is, sometimes he is close and intimate, almost one of us. The next he is above us, awesome and a bit scary.
Who is Jesus to you?
• A good man who said wise things or your teacher and healer?
• A distant mythological figure or a present Saviour?
• An authoritarian ruler or a personal friend?
Who are you to him?
He created you and loves you endlessly:
• Are you a stranger or friend?
• Are you determinedly walking your own lonely path or are you following him as a disciple?
• Are you the loved one who is yet running away from him or are you coming toward him, arms open wide? Ready to join in the battle with him or ready to take up the dance?
• Are you standing with eyes cast down in sorrow or shame or have you received his forgiveness and are able to look into his face with thankfulness – because you have understood and received his grace and forgiveness through his death on the cross?
• Are you living this life with reckless abandon, oblivious of eternity or have you started your new, eternal, life growing ever closer to him?
For those of you who already follow Jesus
What does the new life he has sacrificially given you look like? Can I challenge you to:
• Deal with those issues in your lives which stop you becoming more like the person he is calling you to be?
• Get to know him better and to take more risks to experience his incomparable power?
• Live a life of dynamic, difference-making, risk-taking faith?
• Weep with those who weep but smile and laugh and celebrate with expectation of the hope to which he has called you?
Conclusion
On Easter Sunday we celebrate and remember that Jesus, having died a gruesome death to pay for our sins, rose spectacularly from the grave thus conquering the power, the curse and the fear of death.
He comes to you with the offer of a new life, a glimpse of which we get in Jesus’ resurrection, a new life which starts today and goes on forever.
My invitation to you this Easter is:
• To believe who Jesus is - the Saviour who died for you and who, through his resurrection from the dead, offers you new life.
• To turn away from your old life and receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
• To follow him with every fibre of your being until the time comes to meet him face to face.
Action
For those who already follow Jesus I want to give you an invitation to respond as you remember who Jesus is.
Who Jesus is for you;
known, healer, truth, hope, rescuer, reason to live, reason to love, the good shepherd, friend, comforter, counsellor, saviour, lover, grace
Who you want to be to him:
friend, follower, disciple, witness, ambassador, servant, worshipper, giver, forgiven, soldier, dancer, adopted, precious, beloved, your name
David Flowers, 06/04/2010