Lesson 5 - Who is Jesus

“Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

– Matthew 16: 13-17

“But who do you say that I am?” That is a question each of us will have to answer for ourselves. There are two ways in which you can answer that question. You can answer from your knowledge of Jesus or you can answer from your relationship with Jesus. This is the difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus. Anyone can learn the facts about another person. But to truly know someone you have to establish a relationship with them. You have to spend time with them. You have to dialog with them. Dialog is a two-way conversation. You not only share your stories, but you have to be willing to listen to theirs.

Relationships are scary things. You have to open yourself up and share intimate knowledge with another. You have to become vulnerable. Will the person still like me when they get to know me? Will I be rejected? Will they take advantage of me, ridicule me, or shun me? These are the same fears the other person has of you.

We can teach you the facts of who Jesus is. We can share with you what our relationships with him are like. But only you can choose to enter into a relationship with him. I am going to assume that all of you have some sort of relationship with Jesus already that you are looking to make stronger. That is the only reason to be in these classes; you want a deeper, more meaningful relation with Jesus and his bride, the Church.

So, what do we know about Jesus? Let’s start by reviewing what we covered in an earlier lesson.

Jesus is the second person of God and is known as the Logos or the Word of God. In the fullness of time the Word humbled himself and became incarnate, becoming one of us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He came to reconcile us to the Father, repairing the damage that was done by the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. He brought salvation and redemption to mankind.

Our creed says this about Jesus:

1. He is the only son of God.

2. He is begotten from the Father before all ages.

3. He is God from God.

4. Light from Light.

5. True God from True God.

6. Begotten, not made.

7. Consubstantial with the Father.

8. Through him all things were made.

9. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

10. He was born of the virgin Mary.

11. He suffered under Pontius Pilot.

12. He was crucified, died and was buried.

13. He descended into the underworld.

14. He rose from the dead after three days.

15. He sits at the right hand of the Father.

16. He will come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe that Jesus is one divine person with two natures; a divine nature and a human nature. These natures are inseparable and never in conflict with one another. He was fully human and fully divine. Jesus was born in a barn, worked as a carpenter, and died as a criminal on a cross. These are facts of who Jesus is.

When God created man, Adam had the perfect relationship with God. God walked with him in the garden. It was just God and Adam. Yet, Adam could not totally relate with God. God was so much more. Adam longed for an equal and this is why God created woman. Adam and Eve still could not relate to God. They desired to be like him instead and that is what brought sin into the world.

God created us because he loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us. God became man so that we could relate to him. Jesus is fully human, like us in all things except sin. We can relate to Jesus because he is one of us. Jesus is fully God and communes with God on a level we cannot. That makes him the perfect mediator between us and the Father.

When God wanted to reestablish a relationship with his people he did so with the tribes of Israel. He freed them from captivity in Egypt and led them to freedom through the desert. He told them that he would be their God and they would be a people uniquely special to him. Through Moses, he gave them the Law, the Torah, which they were commanded to follow if they wanted to remain in this special relationship. Over the next few centuries, the tribes fell away from God, came back to God, and fell away over and over. They would obey the Law for awhile and then disobey it. Eventually God allowed the temple to be destroyed and send Israel back to captivity in Babylon. The temple was the center of Jewish life and without it they were lost. The Pharisees developed a way to be Israel without a temple by strictly following the Law Moses had given. They went to unreasonable extremes and made the Law a burden no one could follow in fullness.

Jesus is the Law incarnate. He is the perfection of the Law. He came to show us how to live the Law correctly. He perfected the Law by living each commandment with perfect, sacrificial love. He came to release us from slavery to the Law and show us how to live in proper relationship with God.

Most non-Christian religions view Jesus as one of the greatest philosophers and teachers in all of history. They do not view him as the only begotten son of God and they do not accept him as the Lord of their lives. The problem with this view is that it is not a choice Jesus gave us. Jesus was very direct when he claimed to be the son of God on the same level as the Father. This only gives us three choices as who to believe Jesus is.

If Jesus is who he claimed to be, he is the Lord of all creation. If we believe this to be true then he should also be the Lord of our lives. There is a throne in our heart that has room for only one person to sit upon. Who sits upon the throne of your heart? Is it the Lord of all creation or is it yourself?

If Jesus claimed to be Lord of all creation and he knew that he wasn’t then he was purposely deceiving people. He would be a liar. A liar cannot be a good person and if he is a liar we should reject him. This is the camp many people find themselves in. Jesus is not Lord as he claims to be, but he still was a good person and a great teacher. The problem is that if he lied about who he is we cannot trust anything he had to say.

The last choice we are given is that Jesus was not the Lord of all creation but believed himself to be it. In this case Jesus would be a lunatic. None one in their right mind follows someone who is not in their own right mind. We should outright reject everything Jesus taught and did.

Lord, liar, or lunatic; which do you choose?

Jesus askes each of us this question, “Who do you say that I am?”