WHO IS HE?

“Nobody knows who the Son is but the Father.”

Matthew 11

Everybody has an opinion about Jesus. Some folks think they know who he is. Some are convinced they know him intimately.

Jesus insists that no one knows who he is----who he really is---except the Father.

To know Jesus is no easier than it is to know God. And to know God is impossible unless God chooses to reveal himself.

It seems that God is never in a hurry to reveal himself. A century and an instant are both alike to God. If it takes a few thousand years to bring this sin-sick human race to the point where it’s ready for a dose of truth, so be it!

And when God does get around to revealing himself, he chooses a strange way to do it.

He starts speaking to the Jews.

The Jews? Where did they come from?

What was so special about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, four thousand years ago?

Jacob’s twelve sons were hardly paragons of virtue! Why did God decide to speak to these flawed men and women and their descendants?

And by the way, who can explain how the Jews have remained distinct over four millennia, when all other tribes on earth disappear as soon as they scatter?

Scattered across the planet, persecuted, slandered, hated and brutalized, the Jews have remained distinct through all the tragic centuries.

Beginning as a nomadic tribe, the Israelites multiplied to the point where they began to feel their oats. Suddenly they were no longer a tribe, but a nation.

Guided by prophets, priests and the kings the nation of Israel marched, stumbled, and limped through its bloody history until it was absorbed into the mighty Roman Empire. Tolerated but distained by Rome, the Jews were allowed to keep their Temple and synagogues and their unique way of life.

A way of life which was about to change forever.

Out of nowhere came John the Baptist preaching his fiery message on the banks of the Jordan, baptizing crowds of people, calling everybody to repent.

Is John the Messiah? “No,” says John, “I’m not the Messiah. But the Messiah is on his way.”

One day John announces, “Here he is! Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus of Nazareth? Are you kidding?

Thirty years old, and totally unknown in Judea, Jesus insists on being baptized by John before he disappears into the wilderness. When Jesus emerges from the wilderness he announces,

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the good news."

Mark 1

His family is alarmed. For thirty years Jesus lived and worked so quietly he was hardly noticed.

Is this the same Jesus? Has he lost his mind? This can’t be the son of Mary and Joseph!

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Luke 4

"Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Did they believe him?

Do we?

By the time Jesus finished speaking in that synagogue, those people who had known him all his life were ready to kill him!

That’s the thing about Jesus. Once you really hear what he has to say, you are either convinced or enraged.

If you are convinced by Jesus’ words you are brought to a place where you begin to breathe the air of the world to come.

But do you know Jesus?

Do you know who he is?

Barely.

And now you find yourself bumping into people who, like you, are getting to know him.

They’re trying to follow him.

They’re listening for his voice.

They are trying to live out his commands.

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, they are the ones who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and manifest myself to them."

John 14

Their focus is not “church” or “religion’ or “spirituality”, just Jesus himself.

What does he expect of us?

What does he have to say about the future?

How does his death on the cross impact my life?

I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2

Yes, the God of the universe was in Jesus as he died on that cross, taking the evil, the sin, the curse of this sad human race down into the Abyss forever.

Jesus’ cross is the magnet which draws the entire human race of all time into itself, offering each of us an open door to God’s World.

“And I, when I am lifted up fro the earth (on the cross) will draw all people to myself.”

John 12

Am I living in the power of his resurrection?

Yes, Jesus actually rose from the dead as the Firstborn of the New Creation, making it possible for us to live our daily lives in the power of that resurrection.

…So that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6

Jesus is the center of it all.

Jesus is the final authority.

Not church, not tradition.

Even the Bible is subject to Jesus interpretation and authority. Jesus is Lord of the scriptures---not the other way around.

Jesus is Lord.

But he can only be truly known by those who submit to his lordship.

By those who get under his yoke.

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Matthew 11