Who was Jesus?

Recently, I jumped on a bus and took a long ride to northern Ontario.  At the border, as the border officer examined my passport, she began to ask me lots of personal questions.  I suppose she was trying to make sure I wasn’t a criminal and that I was a truthful, honest citizen.  She even asked to see another form of government issued identification, I guess she just wanted to make sure I really was who I said I was.

There are a lot of people who have opinions on who Jesus was.  Some say that He is a good teacher, others say that He is a prophet or a profound philosopher.  There are those who state that Jesus is God.  One way or another Jesus has been the most talked about man who has ever lived.  There are more debates on who Jesus really was, more books written revolving around His life than any other man who has ever lived.  Jesus Himself stated He was one with the Father and that He is one with God Himself.

If you are looking for a book that testifies to who Jesus is, might I suggest you read the Gospel of John.  In John chapter one, John the Baptizer remarks that the Messiah would come and once he sees Jesus, exclaims, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”  In John chapter four, Jesus tells a woman at a well her past and that He is what she really needs, which is, “living water.”  She runs and tells the other villagers.  These villagers, after hearing Jesus, remark that they don’t believe just because of what the woman said but because they have talked with Jesus for themselves. Still later on, when the Jews challenge Jesus by remarking that Moses gave their forefathers manna, Jesus states that He is “the bread of life” which has come from heaven.

In John chapter five, Jesus states that even His own testimony about Himself is not valid.  He states that the Jews listened to John (the Baptizer) for a while and he testified about who Jesus was.  Jesus stands up and states that He has a testimony that is far weightier and more important than that of John’s.  He states that God the Father Himself testifies to who Jesus is.  The work that His Father has given Him proves that God Himself sent Jesus.  God Himself has sent Jesus and that is a testimony concerning who Jesus is.  Jesus says, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”  God’s very own revelation in written form, Jesus is basically saying, is the very thing that testifies about who He is.  He then makes an insulting statement to the Jews by stating that Moses himself will accuse these Jews for not believing in Jesus because they have put their hopes and belief in Moses. Yet Moses himself had written about Jesus and if they won’t actually believe what Moses wrote, how on earth will they believe Jesus?

In reading John, I find people’s reactions to who Jesus is fascinating.  The villagers believe in Jesus.  Others try to follow Him like modern day people try to follow celebrities. In chapter six, many people deserted Christ because His claims were hard to believe.  In chapter seven, others debated his identity-some thinking He is a prophet others thinking he is perhaps the Christ, but are divided not knowing how to interpret the Scriptures.  Temple guards state that, “No one has ever spoke the way this man does.”  In chapter eight, Jesus states that He is the light of the world.  He says that He testifies about Himself and that His witness is God-the-Father who sent Him.  He states He is from above.  He tells them that once He is lifted up, they would know that He is the one He has claimed to be.  He declares that before even Abraham was born, “I am.”  The Jews were ready to stone Him there on the spot.

In chapter nine, a blind man who is healed by Jesus is investigated by the Jewish religious leaders.  They interrogate him and his simple reply is, “I once was blind, but now I see!”  The Jewish leaders press him harder trying to get some idea of who Jesus is and where He comes from.  The man is baffled and states that Jesus must be from God because only if Jesus was from God could He be making blind men see.  In chapter ten, Jesus calls Himself, “the good Sheppard.”  Jesus challenges the Jews by stating that they should not believe Him unless He does what the Father tells Him to do and that even if they do not believe Jesus then, they should believe because of the miracles.  In chapter eleven, Jesus states that He is the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in Him even though that person dies they will live.  In my opinion, Jesus alone must be God. Jesus is unlike any other teacher, prophet or leader the world has ever known.