Tonight we gave book reports again, and this time our book was Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. It's the kind of book that makes you think a lot. The kind I like to read.
One of the overarching messages in the book is the fact that Jesus leads us into reality. He was not meant to be a choice out of many possibilities, nor a doctrine by which to live, nor a ticket into something good. The picture is bigger than that.
Here's a question: Who is Jesus? History proves he was a real man who really walked the earth, who really was crucified on a cross. Furthermore, history tells us things that Jesus actually said about himself. So let's first ask, Who does Jesus say he is? Now. If you ask me who I am and I say, "I am Cynthia," that probably won't mean much. But if I say, "I am Cynthia, daughter of Laura and Alex, who were raised in Mexico, and I have two brothers, and I play piano and sing, and I like to read," then we might be getting somewhere. So, I think it's very logical to look into what Jesus said about himself. Here are a few things (emphasis mine):
- "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me." (John 12:44,45)
- "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone comes in his own name, you will accept him." (John 5:43 - here, Jesus is expressing frustration)
- "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24)
- "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:14)
- "The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." (John 16: 27,28)
There's a lot of words there, but the basic essence of it is this: Jesus says that someone has sent him, in fact, it's his Father, in whose name he has come. And who is his Father? It's God. The creator of the universe and of mankind. A loving Father, who sends Jesus his son, "the good shepherd," to lay down his life, so that it might become possible for us to "cross over from death to life." But I've gotten ahead of myself.
There is a very famous argument made by C.S. Lewis for the deity of Christ. It goes like this:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish things that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Him Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pg. 40-41)
Basically, if we look at who Jesus was as a historical figure, it's pretty hard to claim that he was a liar. Bereft of integrity. Morally corrupt. It's also fairly impossible to claim that he was crazy. Facts tell us that he was a highly educated Jewish rabbi, and anybody who knows about the traditions of rabbinical schooling, understands the level of knowledge that they attained through study. Jesus was not stupid. His teachings make that clear. So the question is, in sum: can we trust that what Jesus said about himself was the truth?
I am saying all of this because I started out by saying that Jesus leads us into reality. I am learning, as I said above, that the picture is bigger than what I thought it was. Jesus is the big picture. He gives us, through his sacrifice, a way of life that is the way life was actually meant to be.
Picture above: Jessica, me, Mandy, and Hayley, at White Sands, New Mexico!
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish things that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Him Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pg. 40-41)
Basically, if we look at who Jesus was as a historical figure, it's pretty hard to claim that he was a liar. Bereft of integrity. Morally corrupt. It's also fairly impossible to claim that he was crazy. Facts tell us that he was a highly educated Jewish rabbi, and anybody who knows about the traditions of rabbinical schooling, understands the level of knowledge that they attained through study. Jesus was not stupid. His teachings make that clear. So the question is, in sum: can we trust that what Jesus said about himself was the truth?
I am saying all of this because I started out by saying that Jesus leads us into reality. I am learning, as I said above, that the picture is bigger than what I thought it was. Jesus is the big picture. He gives us, through his sacrifice, a way of life that is the way life was actually meant to be.
Picture above: Jessica, me, Mandy, and Hayley, at White Sands, New Mexico!
1 comment:
theologically sound
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