October 30

Who Is Jesus?

There is a lot of confusion over who Jesus really is. From the TV images to the modern scholars of our day, the picture only gets more blurred. If you peruse the religious book section at a Borders you may encounter Jesus as a political revolutionary, a magician who married Mary Magdalene, a rabbi, a peasant Jewish cynic, an anti-Pharisee Essene, a prophet, a hippie in a world of Augustinian yuppies, or even the hallucinogenic leader of a sacred mushroom cult.

Athletes have also come up with some creative portrayals of who Jesus is. Norm Evans, former Miami Dolphin lineman, wrote in his book, On God's Squad, "I guarantee you Christ would be the toughest guy who ever played this game. If he were alive today I would picture a six-foot-six inch 260-pound defensive tackle who would always make the big plays and would be hard to keep out of the backfield for offensive linemen like myself.”
Fritz Peterson, former NY Yankee, more easily fancies Jesus in a baseball uniform: "I firmly believe that if Jesus Christ was sliding into second base, he would knock the second baseman into left field to break up the double play. Christ might not throw a spitball, but he would play hard within the rules.” If this is true, the Mets should sign him for a big contract next year.

So how do you see him? We should take comfort in our confusion; even the people who had face-to-face encounters with Jesus 2000 years ago were confused about his identity.

From our readings today there are only two responses when answering the question, "Who is Jesus?" There are believers and doubters. The doubt can have its origin in pride, rationality, scientific arguments, and even apathy. Regardless of doubt’s origin, the doubting heart ends up worlds apart from believing heart.

In Jesus’ hometown “familiarity” kept people from believing in him. They knew him from his childhood. They knew his story. In a sense they had grown up close to Jesus and that it inoculated them from really believing in the real Jesus. There are many people who grow up very close to the church that never really believe in Jesus. They know a lot about Jesus, they know his story, but they don’t know Jesus. They are so close to the truth but they can’t see it because it is right under their noses. Have you ever lost your glasses and said, “Where did I place those things?” And all the time they are resting on your head. That can happen with Jesus. The saying is true, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”

This is one of my greatest fears as a pastor, that people would hear God's word time after time, but the result would be inoculation rather than catching the virus. Just enough of “Jesus” to feel comfortable and familiar, yet not enough to end up as a passionate, totally committed, radical follower.

The consequence of doubt is that Jesus couldn't do any miracles in his hometown but not because he didn't have the power to do them. He chose not to do them because of their pride and unbelief. The only result of doing more miracles would have been more controversy. Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith, at the very place where one would expect the greatest faith. The people most familiar with Jesus had no idea of who he really was.

So this leads to the thought for today… "Who is Jesus?"