FAQ: Who is Jesus Christ?

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A young man having what many would call a mid-life crisis went out and purchased the car of his dreams, a bright red BMW convertible.

Not long after he made the purchase, he decided to take the car out for a drive onto the interstate highway near his home. It was a bright and sunny day, so he put the top down and was enjoying feeling the wind breeze through his somewhat-thinning hair. The engine in the new car was just purring magnificently to him and it was not long before he was cruising at 70, then 80, now 90 miles per hour.

He was getting close to 100 when he happened to notice in his rear view mirror that a car was gaining on him. Then he noticed that the car had a set of bubble gum lights flashing on top – it was a police car!

For just a second or two, the young man thought to himself, “I can beat this guy!” But then, then better part of wisdom reigned in his thinking and he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the policeman to approach.

When the officer arrived at his car, the fellow handed him his license and registration, and waited for the ticket. The policeman took the documents, glanced at them briefly, then, as he handed them back to the fellow, said, “You know, it has been a long day so far. I am close to the end of my shift and ready to go home. I am sure there is a really good reason for why you were going so fast. But I do not want to go through all the hassle of writing you a ticket. That will just mean more time and more paperwork for me. But unless you can give me a really good reason not to, I am going to have to write that ticket. What do you have to say for yourself?”

The young fellow took back his license, paused, and thought for a moment. Then he looked up at the officer and replied, “You know, officer, just last week my wife left me for another man. That man was a cop. When I saw your lights flashing behind me just now, I thought that cop was you.

All I could think was that you were chasing after me. And the reason you were chasing after me was … to give her back!” The officer smiled, and said, “Have a good day!” and turned and walked away!

In our current series on questions and answers about the Christian faith, we have dealt, at least on the surface, with issues related to the Bible and with God. To be quite frank, in my discussions with people who do not claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, they do not greatly dispute those issues. But when it comes to Jesus Christ himself, that is where the disagreements arise.

These people have, like the fellow in the BMW, turned away from and resisted following Christ. They have in many ways determined they are going to “outrun” God.

Many are simply confused about Jesus. They do not know who he is or claims to be. Many others will suggest that Jesus is a great moral teacher and we should indeed follow his teachings, but they come short of saying that he is God.

One fellow suggested that he could accept the fact of Jesus – that he lived and died, he just could not accept the divinity of Jesus – that he was and is God.

The irony of statements such as these is that they fly in the face of Jesus’ own words. Repeatedly, the Gospel writers quote Jesus as saying things like “I and the Father are one.” (Check out John 10:30), and that he was making himself equal with God (John 5:18). Jesus accepted and affirmed all the claims to divinity which those around him, even his critics, made. His actions continued to prove the truthfulness of those claims.

C. S. Lewis is quoted in his book Mere Christianity as writing the following: “I’m trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That’s the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he’s a poached egg — or else he’d 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 don’t let us come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.”

So the question for each of us today is one that Jesus himself asked of his closest friends, his disciples, when he said, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). He asks that of each one of us. And in reality, our options are only three: Either Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. If he was a liar or lunatic, untold billions have not only followed the lie or the lunacy he has perpetrated.

The only real option is that Jesus is who he said he was, and he asks us to fall down and worship him, following him with our very lives in every way.

Who do YOU say that he is?

Will you follow him, or will you try to outrun him?

God bless …

Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for the Times-Gazette and the News Journal. He is also the former Pastor of Port William UMC.

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Chuck Tabor

Contributing columnist

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