DISPUTED QUESTION
Mark 8:27-30
On our recent vacation, we saw our daughter-in-law Kelly’s former employee and her children. Kelly had worked as their nanny when they lived in Dublin but that job ended when they moved to Dublin. Just to make that a little clearer, Kelly had worked as the nanny for the children of a couple of physicians from Ireland who were practicing for a while in the States. The family lived in Dublin (Ohio). Then they moved back to Ireland where they settled in Dublin.
Anyway, when Cora, one of the physicians, found out we were all going to the UK she invited us to visit them in Dublin for a day. It’s fairly inexpensive to travel from London to Dublin. So, David, Kelly, Pat, and I spent the Wednesday of our vacation in Dublin—Ireland.
We packed a lot into the hours we had after having breakfast with Kelly’s friends. For me, one of the most exciting moments was a visit to the Chester Beatty Library. Chester Beatty was an American mining engineer who became collector of ancient manuscripts. The story of how his collection ended up in Ireland is too long to tell here but just keep in mind that it is one of the greatest collections of ancient manuscripts in the world. On the tour of the library, we saw a fragment of Luke’s gospel that dated from late in the second century.
Those were the years when persecution began to intensify.
It was exciting to think that some band of Christians gathered to hear that gospel read, gathered knowing that their lives might be in danger because of their faith. But they risked their lives because they wanted to know more about this Jesus.
Who is this Jesus?
All around the world men and women are meeting together to worship this same Jewish carpenter-teacher. In many places, even today, those men and women face persecution and hardship because of their devotion to Him.
Who is this Jesus?
This morning I’d like to answer that question in some very basic terms. There’s a lot more that might be said than I will say but what I plan to say is a starting place for further study and exploration in an effort to answer the question: Who is this Jesus?
Jesus was a man who lived at a particular time, in a particular place, a man whose life reflected a particular culture.
I’m starting here because for the past couple hundred years there have been some rather loud critics who have argued that Jesus is a myth or at least the Jesus as he has always been presented by the church is a myth.
The truth is, there is as much if not more evidence that Jesus lived than there is evidence that Julius Caesar lived.
The New Testament, which records the life and words of Jesus, is a document that was so carefully preserved that no other document from ancient history has so many copies, dating so close to the time of the original writings.
For example, many of the documents on which we base our knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman history exist only in copies made several hundred years after the original were written. And, even then, only a handful exist.
There are some 5,000 partial or complete copies of the gospels, most of which were made no more than 300 to 400 years after the originals. One portion of John’s Gospel exists which dates about fifty years after John wrote it. It’s in the John Ryland’s Library at the University of Manchester.
That a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived in Galilee during the first century, that he was an itinerant teacher, that he was credited with performing remarkable acts and saying remarkable things, that he was crucified by the Romans, that his followers believed he rose from the dead, are some of the most reliable facts of history.
The so-called quest for the “historical” Jesus, which is portrayed in so many of the television documentaries you see at Easter and Christmas, makes the mistake of assuming the New Testament account is unreliable.
If, instead, they began by accepting the reliability of the New Testament, only rejecting its account when the facts of history forced them to, they would discover a remarkable picture of Jesus that would capture their imaginations.
They would see a man who lived as a Jew among Jews. They would see a Jewish man who understood that God was—during his lifetime—fulfilling his most ancient promise to humanity.
And, the longer we looked at Jesus, the longer we examined him in that light, the more we would realize he was a man who transcends place, time, and culture.
As we search for an answer to the question Who Is This Jesus? We would see that Jesus was a man who lived as a no other man lived.
To begin with Jesus was a man who kept the rules. Here was a man whose life was marked by an unparalleled integrity. Even his enemies couldn’t find him guilty of breaking the moral code. During his trial, they were forced to bring in false witnesses who perjured themselves by accusing him of blasphemy.
Later, those reviewing the life of Jesus would conclude that he alone of all men had never sinned. Put another way, Jesus lived in such a way that all that he did pleased God and nothing he did displeased God.
At the same time, our review of Jesus’ life would reveal a man who broke all the rules. He befriended people who were considered—by the religious leaders of that day—to be beyond God’s love. Jesus saw the infinite worth of those many would call worthless.
In his wonderful stories, the parables, all the wrong people were the heroes. To understand the impact of his story of the Good Samaritan, imagine someone speaking to a Ku Klux Klan rally telling a story about an African-American whose behavior was more exemplary than that of any model citizen from the white community.
Jesus’ enemies once called him “a friend of sinners.” They did not mean it as a compliment. They actually thought the charge would turn people off, that it would prove Jesus unworthy of their attention. Instead, the the common people began to feel comfortable around Jesus. No, he didn’t ignore their sins; but he helped them believe, for the first time in their lives, that they were valuable to God and that they might somehow start again.
A short while before is death, one of the greatest religious thinkers of the twentieth century, Karl Barth, was asked what he thought the most profound religious truth he had ever learned was. The old man answered, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
The outcasts Jesus encountered felt that love and responded to him because of it.
At this point, if this were all we were to say about Jesus, we would have gone a long way toward answering the question: Who Is This Jesus?
Yet, there’s more. Here things begin to get a little disturbing. Our twenty-first century minds have to stretch to grasp the truths that make up the rest of the answer to our question.
Jesus was a man who did wondrous things that can only be described as miracles.
The Gospels give us an overview of Jesus’ life and work. Although each gospel writer has his own purpose and audience in mind, they all tell us something of the “miracles” of Jesus.
Some of you are uncomfortable with talk about miracles. I don’t blame you. None of us want to seem gullible or credulous. That’s understandable but we want to be careful we’re not like the king of Siam.
It seems the King of Siam—several centuries ago—had a visitor from Europe. This visitor told the king of some of the wonders of his land. He spoke of windmills and castles, of bears and whales. Then the visitor told the king that during a part of the year the water in the lakes and rivers became so hard that one of the king’s elephants could stand on it.
The king, who had never experienced a European winter, said, “Until now I have accepted all you have said but now I know you are an untruthful man.”
Sometimes we’re like that: if we haven’t seen it, can’t have happened. But keep this in mind, in the early records some of Jesus’ enemies may have said his miracles were the work of Satan, but none of his enemies ever denied his miracles took place.
The gospels tell us that Jesus’ miracles included healings from sickness, cures for paralysis, and the restoration of sight. Additional stories speak of miracles over nature and other forces.
Perhaps the most telling description of these miracles is found in John’s Gospel. There they are called “signs.” Like signs they point to something. They point to the character of Jesus. They point to the fact that we must give special attention to this man and what he says.
This brings us to another matter we have to deal with if we’re going to answer that question: Who Is This Jesus?
Jesus was a man who said things about himself that no one in his right mind would say about himself or herself.
If we just had Jesus’ teachings about God and our relationships with each other, we would have only part of the story. What Jesus had to say about himself is a part of the record.
Jesus used titles for himself that his Jewish people only applied to God.
Jesus insisted he had the right to forgive sins—a right possessed only by God.
Jesus taught he would be the Judge during the final judgment at the end of history.
Jesus taught he was the only way to God.
Jesus encouraged people to pray to him and worship him.
Mohammed never did that. In fact, Muslims believe one of the worst sins is to worship Mohammed. Even Buddha warned his follows against worshipping him. But not Jesus.
We can’t escape these words of Jesus. They’re part of the record. We can’t ignore them.
We might like to. After all, so much of what Jesus said and did was so wonderful. How much we would like to hold him up as a hero but how can anyone who said the things he did be a hero.
He might be a lunatic. He might be a fraud. But are we ready to accept this; are we really ready to believe the man who said “Love your neighbor” or “Blessed are the peacemakers” could be a lunatic or a fraud.
How do we explain Jesus saying things about himself that no one in their right mind would say about themselves? Maybe we can explain them if what he said about himself is true.
Jesus was a man whose claims about himself were validated by a mighty act of God.
Jesus died at the hands of his opponents. That, too, was never denied by the earliest writers about Jesus; not even the opponents of Christianity denied the death of Jesus. Though some critics writing centuries after the events would claim Jesus never died, none of the earliest critics questioned he had actually died.
But the man who faced the reality of death came away victorious. Jesus rose from the dead. It’s a shocking claim. It was a shocking event. Jesus’ disciples didn’t expect it—even though we’re told Jesus had told them it was going to happen.
It’s not unreasonable to believe in Jesus’ victory over the grave.
It’s the best explanation for the empty tomb.
It’s the best explanation for the changed disciples.
It’s the best explanation for the emergence of the early Christian church.
That victory validated Jesus’ claims. He is God. He can forgive sins. He is the only way to God.
Our pursuit of an answer to the question: “Who is this Jesus?” leads us to one more element of the answer.
Jesus was a man whose very existence demands a response from us.
What kind of response?
Jesus demands a response that listens to Him. If we hear him, really hear him, we will know that we need to “repent.” That’s an abused word and many are confused about what it means to repent. Primarily, it involves a profound change of mind. We change our minds about ourselves. We no longer see ourselves as self-sufficient. We admit we have done nothing and can do nothing to win God’s favor. We change our minds about God. We no longer see him as remote or indifferent. We see him as one who yearns for a relationship with us. With this change of mind, comes a new way of living
Jesus demands a response that honors Him. Since the beginning of Christianity, men and women have worshipped Jesus. They have sung his praises in cathedrals and brush arbors. They have gathered together by the thousands and in small intimate groups to learn more about him.
Jesus demands a response that tells about Him. Men and women who have found the answer to the question “who is Jesus?” have instinctively known they could not keep the answer to themselves. It is an answer that begs to be told.
If you have not found the answer to the question yet, you owe it to yourself to dig deeper to find the answer.
If you have found the answer to the question, don’t keep it to yourself.
