Are you a spiritual seeker? May I recommend a focus for your
seeking? Start with Jesus.
Whatever spiritual path you are on, chances are you will have
some desire for Jesus. Several major religions and worldviews today want to
claim Jesus in some way: Muslims consider him a prophet, some Buddhists
consider him a Buddhist monk, some Hindus consider him an avatar of their god
Vishnu, New Age spiritualists consider him an ascended master, and some Atheists
consider him a wise mortal teacher.
The problem is that all of these uses of Jesus are based
more on imaginative ideas of Jesus
rather than upon the Jesus we know from the earliest and most reliable writings
about him.
You may not accept that the Bible is the inspired and
authoritative word of God as I do. That’s fine at this point. But you must
admit that the New Testament writings provide us with the most extensive,
early, and coherent record of who Jesus was, what he said and did, and what his
earliest followers believed about him.
So, rather than start with an imaginative idea of Jesus that
has no basis, we can look to those New Testament texts for information about
Jesus. We can also familiarize ourselves with the Old Testament texts in order
to have some idea of the motifs (symbolism, prophecies, etc.) that Jesus used
and that would have been familiar to Jesus’ contemporary followers.
In that sense, if you are going to start with Jesus, you
must start (to some degree or another) with the Bible.
So who was Jesus?
A prophet? A spiritual guru? A mortal teacher?
No, Jesus does not fit into any of these categories because according
to the early accounts of his own words he was something completely unique, set
apart. Consider this parable from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12.
The basic summary is this: A man builds a vineyard and rents
it out to a renter (a “husbandman,” says the King James version). The owner (or
“lord”) of the vineyard later sends a servant to go collect the fruit of the
vineyard, but the husbandman just beats up the servant and sends him away. The
owner sends another servant to collect the fruit, but the husbandman just kills
that one. The owner sends several more servants, but each time they are killed
or beaten. Finally, Jesus says, the owner switched tactics…
“Having yet therefore
one son, his wellbeloved, he [the owner/lord of the vineyard] sent him also
last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
But those husbandmen
said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the
inheritance shall be ours.'
And they took him,
and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
What
shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the
husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.” (Mark 12:6-9)
Here there are two classes of servant that
the lord of the vineyard sent out – the regular hired servants, and the owner’s
son/heir. Jesus is casting himself in this special latter category – rather than
just any old servant (or prophet of God), Jesus is the last servant sent, the
heir to the entire vineyard. He clearly did not see himself as just another
prophet, just another teacher, just another spiritual guide.
“Who
do you say that I am?”
If Jesus was not just another prophet or
teacher, who was he? Who is he? This
is a question that I suggest you place at the centre of your spiritual search.
It was a question that Jesus himself got
his disciples to answer for themselves. That conversation went like this…
“When
Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
And
they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias,
or one of the prophets.
He
saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
(Matthew 16:13-17)
To understand who Jesus is, requires a step
beyond a “flesh and blood” understanding. It requires revelation from the
Father. As you read the Bible, ask yourself who Jesus is, and also ask God to give
you revelation of who Jesus is. The apostle Paul prayed that God would reveal
this to the people in his life:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye
may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of
his inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:17)
I believe that God gave me a revelation of
himself nearly three years ago, as I describe here: http://eph1-17.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-journey-to-jesus-part-two.html
The revelation that God gave me is why I am
a Christian today. He reached out to me through my unfaithfulness and brought
me into a saving relationship with him. Praise God! I believe he will do the
same for you, but like every relationship you have to reciprocate. You have to
open your heart to the possibility that you can form a relationship, and you
have to let him in. The best way to start is by reading about Jesus and trying
to understand who he is.
Jesus:
“My Lord and my God”
Other passages offer more depth to how Jesus represented
himself and how his disciples perceived him.
If you were to ask me today who Jesus is, I would answer the
way that the disciple Thomas did. Following Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples
were disheartened (to say the least). When some of the disciples claimed to
have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead, Thomas was understandably skeptical.
Jesus showed himself to Thomas, giving him the proof he
needed. Thomas’s response is what stands out to me: “Then saith he [Jesus] to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my
hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not
faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” (John 20:27-28)
It is clear that the early disciples believed that Jesus was
God. The Gospel of John is most explicit about this, but it is found throughout
the New Testament. Just as a sampling, Jesus is described as the creator
(Colossians 1:16, John 1:1-3, 14), the alpha and omega (Revelation 1:8), king
of kings and lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15), the judge of mankind (Romans
2:16), and our great high priest (Hebrews 4:14).
As you get to know Jesus through his word, you will discover
how just how much he means to you. As much as I love teachers, Jesus is far
more than a teacher. As much as I love the prophets, they only pointed toward
the time when Jesus would come (Hebrews 1:1-2). My prayer to God for you is
that you will one day be able to kneel before Jesus and exclaim in absolute
wonder, “My Lord and my God!”
Concluding
Thoughts
Jesus was not just a teacher, a prophet, or a guru. He
cannot simply fit into some other pantheon of gods or saints. He (and his
disciples) claimed that he is THE almighty God, THE creator of the universe who
was incarnated as a man. You can either dismiss their testimony or accept it.
But please do not pretend that Jesus can be anything that he did not claim to
be.
I hope you can appreciate that the consequences are profound.
Who Jesus is changes what it means to become a Christian. Because Jesus is the
holy eternal God, to become a Christian is not simply to tack on a “Jesus”
button to your shirt just for funzies. To become a Christian is not just to
follow the rules and good advice of some ancient wise guy. To become a
Christian is not to incorporate Jesus some regime of rituals, or to place Jesus’
picture next to a bunch of other special people.
To become a Christian is to be born again as a new creation,
changed from the inside out (2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3:3-8). To become a
Christian is to be redeemed and reconciled to God by virtue of what he
accomplished for us on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-16). To become a Christian is
to take up your cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). To become a Christian
is to be adopted by God, to receive his spirit into yourself, whereby you can
cry unto him as your father! (Romans 8:15)
To become a Christian is not of little consequence, because
Jesus is not of little consequence. I hope and pray that Jesus will come to
mean to you what he means to me!
God bless you.
