(The song The Outlaw, written and recorded by Larry Norman is played with overhead 1 up)
The song we’ve just heard was written and recorded over 30 years ago by Larry Norman. It is entitled The Outlaw. And though it is 30 years old, I believe that it is still as current as ever. It is a song about Jesus Christ and of the opinions that people have had of him over time. And it is a song that comes to my memory just about every time I reflect on the question, “Who Is Jesus Christ?”
This year’s advent series is entitled, “Why Jesus? Why Christmas?” and last week I asked the question, “Why do we need Jesus?” and the suggestion was made that we need Jesus because we need to have a major change in our lives that only God, through Christ, can make.
But, who is Jesus? And quite frankly we must admit that some ask, who was Jesus?
It is an important question because Jesus and Christmas are tied very intimately together. Christmas’ origin is in the birth of Christ. But who was, and still is, Jesus Christ?
Norman’s song gives us a bit of a road map to the truth about Jesus so we are going to use two verses of it as a doorway to the Biblical story about Christ.
“Some say he was a poet, that he’d stand upon the hill
That his voice could calm an angry crowd and make the waves stand still,
That he spoke in many parables that few could understand,
But the people sat for hours just to listen to this man.”
Good poetry reminds us of the influence and power that words can have. But, Jesus was not a poet. Yet His words had, and still have, great impact on our lives.
Christ spoke and acted with God’s authority behind and in Him. He spoke with wisdom and insight that amazed the most learned people. Nicodemus acknowledged this authority when he said to Jesus, “Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you!” (John 3:2)
Words have great power and allow us to create or destroy worlds. And Jesus’ words did exactly that. Because of the authority behind his words – He was able to pronounce people forgiven or condemned. He was able to heal both the body and the soul. And He was able to change the physical conditions around Him.
For example in Luke 8:22-24 with a word of rebuke, Jesus calmed a storm. One day Jesus said to His disciples, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and started out. On the way across, Jesus lay down for a nap, and while he was sleeping the wind began to rise. A fierce storm developed that threatened to swamp them, and they were in real danger.
The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Master! Master! We’re going to drown!” So Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waves. The stormed stopped and all was calm!”
His words created awe and amazement in people such as the disciples. His words, as we see in the next segment of Luke 8 also created fear and rejection.
While on the other side of the lake, Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man and delivers him from his possessed stated. One would think that there would be a great sigh of relief from those who had to deal with this man’s ranting and ravings. But, such was not the case in this situation as we read in verses 34 – 37.
“When the herdsman saw it, [that is the herd of pigs running into the lake], they fled to the nearby city and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, for they wanted to see for themselves what had happened. And they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting quietly at Jesus’ feet, clothed and sane.
Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in that region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.”
And there were times Jesus’ words also created an angry and hateful response as we see in Mark 14:62-65.
Jesus said, “I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict? And they all condemned him to death.
Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and hit him in the face with their fists. “Who hit you that time, prophet?” they jeered. And even the guards were hitting him as they led him away.”
But, His authority and power was not the result of the words He used, but the result of the power and authority that were in those words. And that power and authority came from His Father – God.
Words have great impact and Jesus said many things with great authority, wisdom, and power that changed people’s lives. But poets are not the only ones whose use of words can make a difference. Politicians know how to use words as well.
Some say a politician, who spoke of being free,
He was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee,
He spoke out against corruption and he bowed to no decree,
And they feared his strength and power so they nailed him to a tree.
In the years since Jesus walked this earth, opinions about Him have varied from the worshipful to the ridiculous.
Here are some quotes about Christ from famous and influential people over the years: (On overheads)
"If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, hear what he had to say, and make fun of it." Thomas Carlyle (overhead 2)
"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." H.G. Wells (overhead 3)
“No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life." Albert Einstein (overhead 4)
"Jesus Christ was an extremist for love, truth and goodness." Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader. (Overhead 5)
"Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind." Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian President (Overhead 6)
People followed Jesus everywhere He went. Why? His powers to heal and deliver were sought by people who needed that power and deliverance. This is illustrated in one of His by the sea episodes in Matthew 15:29-31.
Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought him the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others with physical difficulties, and they laid them before Jesus. And he healed them all.
The crowed was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking around, and those who had been blind could see again. And they praised the God of Israel.
But, while Jesus had compassion on those who need a healing, as indicated in Matthew 14:14, He had no such attitude toward those who He believed said one thing and then did another. And of course such conflict led to such episodes as recorded in Matthew 22:15 - 22.
Then the Pharisees met together to think of a way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could accuse him. They decided to send some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to ask him this question, “Teacher, we know how honest you are. You teach about the way of God regardless of the consequences. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?
But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said, “Whom are you trying to trick? Here show me the Roman coin used for the tax.”
When they handed him the coin, he asked, “Whose picture and title are on it? “Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar’s what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God, must be given to God.”
Many people over years, as the Gorbachev quote reveals; have tried to put Jesus in their particular political camp. He was neither conservative or liberal, democrat or republican, nor was He capitalist or socialist.
He spoke out against the corrupt system that kept people from fully experiencing God and life as God intended. In a scathing indictment in Luke 11:37-53, Jesus tells the leading religious group of clergy exactly what He thought of them “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the inside of the cup and dish, but inside you are still filthy – full of greed and wickedness.”
And because He cared; because He reached out to those considered unworthy like the Gentile woman in Luke 7:24 – 30 who believed that Jesus could heal her demon possessed daughter even though she was not Jewish; because He was moved by the crowds that constantly surrounded Him as Matthew states in chapter 9: 35 – 38; He became a target of those whose message was not liberating but binding. And they decided that they had had enough. And so they plotted to kill Him.
In John 11, after Lazarus is raised from the dead, probably the greatest act that Jesus did after His own resurrection, a meeting was held to deal with the situation.
“What are we going to do?’ They asked each other. “This man has certainly performed many miraculous signs. If we leave him alone, the whole nation will follow after him, and the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation. And one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “How can you be so stupid? Why should the whole nation be destroyed? Let this one man die for the people. . . So from that time on the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death.”
“Some say he was an outlaw, that he roamed across the land,
With a band of unschooled ruffians and few old fishermen,
No one knew just where he came from, or exactly what he’d done,
But they said it must be something bad that kept him on the run.
Some say he was a poet that he’d stand upon the hill
That his voice could calm an angry crowd and make the waves stand still,
That he spoke in many parables that few could understand,
But the people sat for hours just to listen to this man.
Some say a politician, who spoke of being free,
He was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee,
He spoke out against corruption and he bowed to no decree,
And they feared his strength and power so they nailed him to a tree.
Some say he was a sorcerer, a man of mystery,
He could walk upon the water; he could make a blind man see,
That he conjured wine at weddings and did tricks with fish and bread,
That he talked of being born again and raised people from the dead.
Some say he was the Son of God, a man above all men,
That he came to be a servant and to set us free from sin,
And that’s who I believe he is cause that’s what I believe,
And I think we should get ready cause it’s time for us to leave.”
Jesus was aware of what people thought of Him and one day He asked the disciples what they were hearing. Mark 8:27-30: “As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and other say you are one of the other prophets.” Then Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
Who do you say Jesus is? An outlaw? A poet? A politician? A sorcerer? Or the Messiah, the Son of God?
We answer that question by the kind of lives we live. What kind of answer are we giving?
Last week I had us consider what Christmas would be like from God’s perspective. I suggested that God was looking for people to live godly lives, looking for lives to change for the better, and looking to make people just like Himself.
Let me add one more suggestion, God was finishing a plan that required Him to become like us and understand the greatest dreams and deepest needs of the human race in human terms from a human perspective. That required Him, as our main text from John 1 says, “to become human and live here among us.”
Jesus was, and still is God. We have to accept that by faith. It is one of those statements that cannot be scientifically proven. It has to be accepted by faith.
Let us do so. Let us believe. Let us trust. Let us obey. Let us follow. Amen.
(Overheads are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for 210802 svgs.
The Outlaw by Larry Norman is copyrighted. The quotes about Jesus are from the website www.n2clay.com)
