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who
is jesus?
in
the account of the life and ministry of Jesus in "the book" of mark, Jesus asks a question to
[simon] peter, one of
his students, Jesus asked, "who do people say
I am?" peter, playing it safe and
looking for the party line,
answers with what others think  first;
but his desire to follow the "polls" of his day did not work.
you see that's not what Jesus wants to know.
so Jesus puts peter on the spot one more time.
this time Jesus is a bit more direct; Jesus looks peter in the eye and asks, "who do you say I
am?"
ok,
that changes everything. you see, Jesus did not
really want peter to answer with the company
line, or what was "popular opinion" of who Jesus was; Jesus wanted peter to see for himself and
develop his own way of seeing who Jesus was.
today,
Jesus could look at any one and ask,
"in a world of bio-diversity,
cultural-diversity, and ethical-diversity,
who do you say I am? in
a world of individualism, commercialism,
capitalism and
a long list of "other-isms" who do
you say I am? in a world
or ramped hunger, violent behavior, abuse and
wanted pain, who do you say I
am? in a world that takes my teachings
and flips them to justify all kinds of evil,
war, killing and hurt, who do you say i am? in a world of single parents,
broken homes and children giving birth to
children, who do you say I am?
in a world defined by product recognition,
catchy slogans and designer jeans, who do you
say I am?" somehow, the question
gets harder to answer as it gets closer to
our way of life. but Jesus is not
asking us to answer with the easy answer, Jesus is asking us to look deep
and realize that we need to make a stand.
many
people over the ages have answered this
question in many different way. peter,
when confronted with the question had to
answered in the reality he knew, "you
are the messiah, the christ, the son of the
living God." wow, talk about
a powerful set of words - the son of God,
the "messiah" - this seems so hard for us
to come to grips with today. with all
the pain and hurting we see in this world,
it's hard to envision God sending God's son to earth to
interact with us. but why is that
hard? could it be because of our skeptical nature? that
could be. could it be because if we do
not "see it, touch it and hear it"
we doubt it? that could be also.
but i tend to think it is because Jesus
calls us to a very different form of living,
one that does not fit with the current
church idea of what it means to be a
follower. i tend to think that it is
because we are asked to go beyond ourselves,
and place our lives in the direct line of
fire with the lives of others. you
see, i think we do not follow because following
requires that we actually get involved in
the lives of those who are hurting, and that
can be messy. it is hard to see God in the
midst of personal agendas and fallen heroes,
i believe we
have cause to doubt.
when
we look around we see the fall of our heroes
- those we hold in high regard have proven
to be less then worthy - our religious
leaders have affairs and become centered on
money, or preach what they do not practice;
"christians" act like everyone
else and cause hurt and pain all in the name
of Jesus; our politicians steal, cheat and lie and
claim they do so for our benefit, yet they
get rich and children go hungry; our teachers have improper
relationships with children and claim it as
love; when our families fall apart because
someone decides how "family" must
be defined. when we see
those who demand our respect, [mainly due to
their position], show nothing worthy
of our respect, we are lost. when we
demand transparency in our leaders, and only
see fogged windows and clogged pipes, what
are we to believe? how are we to
believe the claims of anyone? how are we to
believe that this Jesus can be any different
then the rest? how can we believe that
the people who are sharing him with us are
not in this for personal gain and a private
agenda? is he truly the
salvation of humanity - after all, those who
follow Him are not exactly worth modeling;
and how can we believe in perfection in this
world when his followers treat each other,
and others, like everyone else and blame it
all on "being human?" i
really can't blame people who walk away from
the teachings of Jesus, because when we see
that a faith that calls us to change and
walk in a new light while those claiming to
be "followers" are not changed,
but are the same as everyone else, how can
we see this faith changing our lives? the questions are many, and the
reality to palpable to ignore. so, who
is this Jesus and what is he all about?
most important, should i follow him and seek
to learn his teaching?
some
basic facts:
name:
Jesus, in greek; joshua, in hebrew
[pronounced, "ya-shoe-a"]
keep in mind that the letter "j"
is not part of the greek or hebrew alphabet.
the actual letter in the beginning of the
names is "i." it could be
said that his
name gives it away - it means 'anointed
Savior.' the name "Jesus" is
actually an "greek"
understanding of his true name - joshua.
His friends, neighbor, and others called him
"joshua" and not Jesus.
dates:
from 0 to 35 ad - exact dates are not known,
some give the birth at year 4ce, others at
6ce, and still others as early as the year
0. some give the date of his
"death" at 32ce and other 33ad,
while some go as high as 36ce; the reality
is we do not know, and all we can do is give
a "best guess." but i wonder, does it matter the exact date
[dates and time, or expressions of them are
created by humans to mark the passing of
"an event" - that has little to do
with the reality of christ]? I tend to
think we get so caught in the "how's" we forget all about the
"why's."
conditions
at birth: this may come as a
shock, but Jesus was not born into a white,
middle class, suburban, christian. Jesus
was born into social scandal
with huge question marks over the legitimacy
of his birth [in luke's account of
the birth of Jesus {2:5-7} he writes that
joseph and mary were not married at the time
of Jesus' birth, only "engaged to be
married"], Jesus was
the eldest child [one of several] of a
jewish day laborer [the greek word is "tekton"
and has been mistakenly translated as
"carpenter"] and mary, his teenage
mother who was still a virgin!
he was born into poverty, and as tradition
has it, his earthly father, joseph, died
when Jesus was young, leaving mary to raise Jesus
and his brothers and sister alone and
with income problems. tradition has it
that mary counted on the generosity of
friends and family to help make ends
meet. there was no "welfare
state" back in the day, so people
needed to help people directly. while a great
deal of his early life is based totally on
tradition and no proof, we do know a great
deal about the last three to four years of
his life and active ministry. he was
born in a time when political and social
turmoil were the norm.
religion:
Jesus was born into a jewish family, he was
jewish. in fact, Jesus could have been
considered a "good jew" because he
obeyed all feast days, and was seen at the
temple on may occasions. on the other
hand, he totally disrupted the jewish
leadership and questioned them on a regular
basis. he "put it in their
face" and asked them all the time to
explain why they did what they did.
for Jesus, it was never about religion, it
was [and is] all about relationships.
early
life: Jesus was born in the tiny
back-water village of bethlehem, raised in small town
nazareth, he also spent many years of his
youth living in egypt. many of the
early years of his life are covered in
mystery and there is no record of where he
was and what he did. [some
"non-canonical" scriptures do give
some information, but they are questionable
- but worth the read if you desire.]
ministry:
Jesus spent his whole ministry wander,
teaching and helping others in the israeli deserts, towns and
countryside, particularly around galilee,
judea and samaria. he was a "faithful"
jew, he went up to the big city of jerusalem
for the main feasts and festivals, and to
stop over with his growing band of friends
and followers. it was on a hill outside
jerusalem's city walls where he died
violently at the hands of the government.
Jesus
spent his life [that we know of] telling us to love
one another and to lift each other up; that
our love for each other should be the love
Jesus expressed. Jesus taught that we
should treat others as we want to be
treated.
his central message was that God loves us
and forgives
our "sins" [our desire to place
our wants and needs over the needs of
others, wrongs done to others and to self] and wants to have a long and lasting
relationship with us. Jesus also
taught that God is a God of love, grace,
kindness, forgiveness and hope. Jesus
told us that in God we can find
a new life, that transforms us as children
of God and changes us at a core level; Jesus
also taught that when we walk with God in
the community of other followers we are in a place
where we find questions and directions for
our life journey. i know, many of today's
followers are not showing any of that - but
that is changing.
what
he is:
we say "what he is," because Jesus
is alive for us today, and we know that
sounds strange because we speak of his death
and he is not walking around today in
"flesh." Jesus lived a perfect life, communicating
love, peace and freedom to everyone from all
generations, past, present and future.
we believe that Jesus is alive and well
today and living in the hearts of all people
who decide to make the commitment and become
a "follower of the way."
the
personality of Jesus:
he
is radical:
he violated almost all of the religious
traditions of his day. he touched the
"unclean," the unwanted, the
unacceptable, and ministered to their needs.
he argued with the religious leaders of his
day condemning them for their strict
adherence to the law, and their legalistic
view of a meaningful relationship with God -
Jesus intentions was not to form a new
religion, but rather for us to form a
radical relationship with God. he
was deemed a rebel and a no-good
trouble-maker who simply wanted to change
things with out thinking - sound
like someone you know?
he
is transparent: Jesus was who he was, and he did not pretend
to be something he was not; and he made no
bones about it. he stood his ground,
and did not waiver to please the desires of
others - he spoke the words God gave him,
and he was sure of the power of those words.
he was happy with who he was, and he did not
care if others did not like what he had to
say, he said it anyway -
sound like something you want?
he
is transforming: he healed those who were
sick in body, mind or spirit - he even was
known to raise the dead! (a few times).
He hung out with all kinds of people, and
built special relationships with the group
of 12, called disciples (6 unemployed, one
tax collector and 5 day labors) - those who
chose to believe in him and follow him in a
new way of thinking - to eventually called
"christianity." he was a
friend who would do anything for a friend - sound
like something you need?
he
is tribal: Jesus had family, a mother, brothers and
sisters. he even had extended family,
aunts, uncles, cousins (in fact, "john,
called the baptist" was a cousin) and
grand parents - yet he expanded his
"family view" to include friends
and strangers. he strived with the
"big picture." to love
everyone, even the unlovable, to accept
everyone, even the unacceptable - to be
tribal in nature and direction - for Jesus,
water is thinker then blood. he
welcomed many people into his community.
in fact, he was quoted and saying that
anyone who follows him would be considered a
family member - sound
like something you need?
he
is honest and safe:
he gave people a sense of belonging and
value, and never demanded them to do
anything. he brought meaning and purpose to
everyday life and living and connected no
strings to the adventure we call life. no
person, no matter who they were or where
they came from, were deemed beyond his
friendship, love and care. sound
like something you want?
he
is not status quo: Jesus, because of his radical nature, became
extremely unpopular with the political, the
institutional establishment, and the
religious rulers of his day. as a
result of this unpopularity Jesus ended up
being convicted of false charges, tried by a
prejudiced jury, condemned by a cowardly
judge, tortured and beaten beyond all
recognition, and killed as an innocent man
by the cruelest means known possible -
crucifixion. sound
like someone you know?
he
is not dead:
surprise !!!! he was crucified, dead
(he didn't stay dead !!!!) and buried in a
tomb borrowed from a rich friend (yes, he
had rich friends - remember, he loved
everyone) and guarded by a few roman
soldiers. yet, many witnesses (over
500) testify that he rose from the dead and
was seen again walking and talking with
people. some even touched him physically,
and eat with him; he was no ghost - he
really was alive and well in human flesh.
remember this, the rock was not moved so Jesus
could get out of the tomb, the rock
was moved for us to enter. sound
like something you need?
he
is timeless:
people through all generations of time and
history have not only believed the story of
who Jesus was (and is) and what he did, but
they have also experienced him in real,
transforming grace, first hand. they have
discovered, what a great many have
discovered, that he is as
real, relevant and alive.
this generation is no exception, none at
all. what he has to say speaks to us,
befriends us, guides us, heals our
brokenness and pain, and intervenes in our
lives just as he did when he was on earth
and always has done. his touch is real
and timeless. sound
like something you need?
he
is God in the flesh:
i know, it's hard to believe, but just
because it's hard to believe does not make
it "unbelievable." after
all, i have never seen a billion dollars,
yet i believe a billion dollars is real.
if you desire to have the heart of a rebel,
to be transparent, and to be accepted for
who you are, not what others desire you to
be, then may i suggest you look deeper into
the claims of christianity.
because it is something we all can
use!
if
you desire to know more about Jesus the
christ may we suggest you "get
connected" to a group of people who
will take the time to share with you their
personal experiences with God and their
faith walk; not a group looking to
"shove" anything on you. get hooked in, and if you
need help getting hooked-in drop us an email
- and we will help you find a group.
we will be happy to help you find a place
where you can develop a true and lasting
relationship with Jesus christ - no matter
where you are right now - and truly no
strings attached - no hidden agenda.
[by
John O'Keefe]
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