Who Is Jesus?

Husband was talking with someone recently, and as he told me about the conversation he quoted the other person as mentioning "this delusion that Jesus came down and walked around for thirty years." That startled me. I've read for myself the translation of Josephus, particularly noticing where he talks about Jesus and the fact that Jesus was killed at the instigation of the Jewish leaders. That is historical fact. This man walked on earth.

Despite the historical record that someone named Jesus existed, interacted and "walked around for thirty years," I never feel like I know enough about who he was.

I have noticed that some people are really frustrated with what they've been taught about who Jesus was, or more specifically with the horrible picture their parents or teachers have painted of God and his demands on their lives. Once you mistrust the character of "God," you must mistrust Jesus even if you believe he was a good man, because he clearly connected himself to God. And then if you see the professed followers of Jesus acting like jerks, that tends to intensify disgust toward the One they say they believe in.

For some people, their faith pendulum swings way out to disbelieving and rejecting Jesus. They don't seem to entertain the possibility that they may have been misdirected by people who shape the "Jesus story" for their own ends. Or they may simply have misunderstood what they heard from people who sincerely care about Jesus.

It seems like there are as many concepts of Jesus as there are people. But wait; is that really true?I was mulling over the different ways in which we each see Jesus, when I happened to read this passage in John 7 one morning last week:

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." ...

On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."

Others said, "He is the Christ."

Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. (John 7:37-43)

I'm no longer so much interested in the question of "Who was Jesus?" What has caught my attention is the question, "Who is Jesus?"

As we see in John 7, in the time of Jesus the people came up with several basic explanations, explanations which persist to this day. Who is Jesus? The multiple choices, as I see it described in these verses, are these:

a) Jesus was a prophet, a good teacher. That's all.

b) Jesus was the Christ, the Savior, which in his time was interpreted to be the savior from the Roman occupation.

c) Jesus came from Galilee, i.e. he was just a man from an inauspicious place who built himself up as someone special, but wasn't.

A good teacher. The Savior. Just a man.

Sound familiar? The beliefs of the people in the time of Jesus sum up the explanations people still offer today. Some eclectic folk think Jesus was a good teacher and name him with the other great teachers of history. Some think he was a mere man who either deliberately misled others, or was deluded about himself. And to some, he is their Savior and Lord.

And then it struck me: I have believed all three explanations at different times, and continue to do so ... not intentionally, but in the reality of my daily behaviors.

What an embarrassing realization. I'd want to say that I always know Jesus as my Savior. But I can think of times when that is not so.

In actuality, I sometimes treat Jesus' teachings as being on par with those of other great teachers. I've been so accustomed to hearing and reading His words over and over, that they take on the ring of a "Plato said," or "Confucius said" or "Martin Luther King Jr. said." In other words, they run through my head as just another set of very wise sayings.

When I think of Jesus as simply another great teacher, there are no streams of living water to be found.

And sometimes, when I'm reading the Bible and journaling, I find myself treating the words of Jesus as those of a man. I think, "Wow, that was a rude thing for him to say," or "Why did he deliberately provoke them like that? He didn't need to say that, " or "That's pretty off-putting, saying that we should eat his body and drink his blood!" I find myself sitting in the seat of a judge or an analyst, picking apart the things he was saying as though I were equipped to critique him. This is not the approach of a disciple.

When I think of Jesus as simply a man, there are no streams of living water to be found.

And then there are times that I believe in Jesus as my Savior. I see that I am thoroughly lost, needing help, unable to save myself from things that are beyond me. I am helpless. I believe in Jesus as the one who has redeemed me and can "pull me out of this miry clay." At those times I am so very grateful, and throw myself and all my worries and problems on Him with the "Kyrie Eleison" cry in my heart--"Lord, Have Mercy!"

This--when I believe that Jesus is the Christ--is when I finally find the streams of living water.

We are such muddled, flawed human beings. As I consider how I waffle among behaviors that demonstrate my instability of faith, I'm disappointed in myself. Then I remember the father who said to Jesus, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." I remember that He accepted that father's statement. Surely, then, Jesus will accept me even with my unbelieving moments, will He not?

Who is Jesus to you? How do you know that's what you really believe?