Weigh up Jesus

Just imagine if I, a relative ‘nobody’, started to get a lot of public attention because of the things I was saying and a number of inexplicable signs and wonders I was performing; things which were engaging the lower classes of society in a way that those in authority were failing to do; authorities that is in terms of local and wider government and more especially the religious hierarchy, which until now had held sway over what was a religious nation.

Now, what if I started to go further and began to make more and more bold claims about myself using those signs and wonders to support what I was saying. To put the tin lid on it, what if the culmination of these words and actions led people to conclude that I was claiming to be equal to God and, when I was challenged about this, I declined to deny it.

If the above were the case, then you would have to make a judgement call about me and who I really am, because the implication of my words are that you would be answerable to me in all matters of your life.

However, I am a relative nobody and I’m making no bold statements about myself. On the other hand, Jesus does just that very thing and so you and I have no option but to weigh him up. The author C.S. Lewis did this and concluded that there are three possible answers that we can come to i.e. Jesus was mad, Jesus was bad or he was God. Indeed, at one point, Jesus’ own family reckoned he was out of his mind, whilst the religious leaders went as far as saying that he was in league with the devil himself (the Gospel of Mark chapter 3).

In 2024 you will doubtless make judgement calls about people who will impact your life and these will include the person of Jesus. In the country of Israel, 2000 years ago, the ‘somebodies of the day’ took the view that it was more expedient that Jesus was put out of the way for good. God, however, had different plans.

Jesus once asked his followers, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ What say you…?

Son of God

Can we know what God is like, or even better, can we actually know him? Such serious questions need more than a lightweight response.

We surely need God’s own self-revelation here.  Christians believe that this is what we have in the Bible. There, in its pages, we read of a Jewish Christian who wrote a letter to fellow Jews saying, ‘in the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.’

When we think about God having a son, we mustn’t think in natural terms of a biological father and a biological mother. Rather think of God’s Son as ‘one of the same kind’ or ‘one intimately bound up with him’; like father like son so to speak.

Christmas will be upon us very soon. The central theme for the Advent story is the coming of the Son who is Jesus, the exact representation of God as quoted above; the Son is the radiance of God's glory - so closely bound up are God and the Son, they are as inseparable as is the burning candle flame and the light it is emitting.

So, ‘Can we know what God is like?’ Yes, he is just like Jesus the Son of God, not physically but in terms of his personal character - faithfulness, goodness, kindness, graciousness, likes and dislikes. Did Jesus care about the weak, hurting, needy and outcast? Yes, and so does God. Did Jesus oppose the proud, hypocrites and hard-hearted? Yes, and so does God. Is Jesus concerned that people honour God? Yes, and God is concerned that people honour Jesus in the same way.

Can we actually know God then? Certainly, by knowing Jesus who gives us this assurance: ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.’

An exception to the rule

A few hundred yards from our home is a road sign telling drivers ‘no U-turns’. If someone does make a U-turn then confusion and congestion are liable to occur.

Politicians are sometimes accused by other politicians, not to mention the media, of making a U-turn on some statement or policy. Making such U-turns are derided and portrayed as weakness and incompetence resulting in loss of face. Of course vacillation, inconsistency, and changing with the prevailing wind is not good amongst those in leadership, but to admit that one has got it wrong and is prepared to acknowledge it by changing direction should not be sneered at.

The Bible frequently uses the word ‘repentance’, which literally means ‘a change of mind’ evidenced by action - in other words a U-turn. This is a theme which Jesus forcibly brings to us time and again. His teaching is that faith in our own human understanding of ourselves and the world should be replaced by faith in God and that which he has for us. We are each born with a nature which gravitates to a life centred upon ‘me and mine’. Jesus’ teaching is uncomfortable because it reveals that human nature, when all the veneer is removed, has a leaning that is away from the one true God and so is towards evil. A U-turn is needed. This U-turn is real when men and women acknowledge their innate resistance towards God - the true God who is shown to us in the person Jesus Christ; they ask for God’s forgiveness and help to live differently; and they simply put their trust in the mercy and goodness of God, not in their own perceived goodness.

This was not a popular message in Jesus’ day, particularly amongst the religious leaders; it is still pretty unpopular today, that seems to be the nature of U-turning! Heaven likes it though. Jesus says, ‘there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 (supposed) righteous persons who do not need to repent. Let’s remember these words of Jesus whenever we see a ‘No U-turn’ sign, and consider at least this one exception to the rule!