Quiet time 18 May - who is Jesus?

Who is the Jesus of the Bible?

So much of how Christians understand God is based on the person of Jesus. The term "Jesus freak" is commonly used disparagingly to refer to people who seem to always bring Jesus into any conversation. I really do not have a problem with the term - when we dig into what Jesus stands for and who he is we can really only come to two conclusions: he is either a crazy masochist or God incarnate. There is a popular view of Jesus being merely "a good guy", but this view fails to take into account the claims of the Bible and firsthand witnesses. So who is this Jesus that so changed the shape of world religion? A detailed study will come later, but here are some key verses from the Bible.

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:13-28‬ ‭ESV‬‬
http://bible.com/59/mat.16.13-28.esv

I have heard people say that Jesus never actually claimed to be the son of God (the Christ).  While it may be true that he never said the exact words "I am God", he said so many things that had equivalent meaning that he was violently put to death. (Ref John 8:58 especially).  Even above, it is clear what Jesus is claiming - that he is the Christ.  In Jewish tradition, the Christ was promised to be the son of God (and the lord of King David) and to lead God's promised people to establish an everlasting kingdom.

This is what Peter has in mind as far as expectations for Jesus.  I can imagine that Peter was pretty excited to hear that their promised king had come at last, and that Peter had the good fortune to already have a relationship with him!  He and the other disciples (especially Simon the Zealot) were probably anxious to throw off the Roman rule of Jerusalem.  They were likely expecting a military revolt and victory over their occupiers.  In the way that it seems that God normally does, Jesus followed this proclamation by modifying their expectations when he said that he actually had to be killed!  This is obviously too much for Peter - who tries to correct the person he just said was the Christ.  Getting called "Satan" by Jesus was probably a fairly strong rebuke.  There is an interesting study in the future over what Jesus means by "the rock" on which he will build his church.  

Finally, Jesus lays out some clear and hard expectations for eternal life and salvation. Follow him in bearing our cross while denying ourselves.  Jesus is saying this with the authority of God.  If we want to have eternal life, there is no way but to follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is not meant to be easy - it is compared to bearing a cross for crucifixion. Jesus does not promise his followers earthly riches or lives free of suffering (in fact it is probably closer to the opposite); but he does promise the one thing that matters -  salvation of the soul and eternal life.

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:1-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬
http://bible.com/116/jhn.1.1-5.nlt

“He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:10, 12-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬
http://bible.com/116/jhn.1.10,12-14.nlt

The beginning of the Gospel of John has even more direct language about who Jesus is. Jesus was there in the beginning with the Father, and the world was created through Jesus! The doctrine of the Trinity is also contained here (Jesus is God, the Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God, each one is not the other, there is only one God). Most importantly, Jesus came to give us to right to become children of God and to show us the nature of God. Yesterday we talked about how God's ways are higher than our ways, but Jesus is meant to be a living example of the character of God for all of us to have as a role model.

So who is Jesus? Is he a crazy person who willingly and knowingly went to one of the most gruesome deaths imaginable while living a blameless life? Were is disciples equally all crazy for following him even after his death and resurrection and "bearing their own cross" to martyrdom? Keep in mind that all of the original disciples minus Judas (who betrayed Jesus and hung himself) and John (who was tortured several times for his faith but lived to old age) died horrible deaths and mostly penniless. But they must have thought it was worth it because there were plenty of opportunities to turn back and renounce Jesus. Or is Jesus the Christ, God incarnate, and our Lord and Savior?

The answer you choose matters more than anything in the world.