Jesus - Who He Is

JESUS
WHO HE IS

I have been reading a book by Tim Stafford, called “Surprised by Jesus”, which has given me quite a bit of food for thought.

Most of us have formed a concept of Jesus that traditionally includes a number of events that we all know by memory. These things are deceptively familiar to us, and we feel comfortable with them. But sometimes Jesus says things or does things that leave us puzzled. For example, when He told the fig tree to shrivel up, or when He told His disciples to not tell anyone about His miracles. He was hard on His opponents, the Pharisees, but He also made extreme demands on His disciples, like telling them to be as perfect as His Father in heaven.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke give us the account of his earthly life, that most of us can recite by heart. And because it is the Christmas season, we will go through some of those events we know so well.

He was announced by the angel to the Virgin Mary, and then to Joseph.

He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He was born “at the appointed time” and angels announced his birth to some shepherds watching their flocks by night. Three wise men from the East received a sign that the Messiah was due to be born and so, guided by a star, they went to Bethelehem and brought gifts.

Warned by an angel that Herod the Roman-appointed stooge king of Israel was having all baby boys killed to prevent the newly-born Messiah from becoming a threat to his kingdom, Joseph took the family to Egypt, where they remained until Herod died, and they returned to Israel before Jesus was 12.

And Jesus grew up in Nazareth in the North of Israel, in a region called Galilee. He learned from the rabbis and teachers. He went to the temple.

When he was 30, he began his earthly ministry, which lasted around 3 years. He selected and called 12 disciples to work with him. The first year his acceptance level was good, but as time went on opposition by the religious leaders grew, and his second and third years were much more difficult. During his earthly ministry, he performed a great number of miracles, which alarmed the religious leaders, who plotted his death, and aided by Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, arrested him, had him tried and convicted under very dubious conditions, and he was condemned to the die on a cross in Jerusalem.

He died an awful death and was buried but on the third day he arose, and he appeared first to his most intimate disciples and his family, then to over 500 more, and then ascended to heaven on a cloud after being on earth for 40 days.

We know that Jesus never sinned. We know he showed compassion to the people; we know He spent a great deal of time teaching His disciples, and He sent them out by twos to proclaim the good news about the Kingdom of God.

But enough of generalities. To see Jesus clearly we must study what He said and what He did, in the context of the times He lived in and who He was and then, how that should affect our lives today. Jesus was a Jew, born in a country that was severely troubled, and, in fact, was at that time occupied by a ruthless foreign power, Rome. And Rome was the most recent of a series of other powers that had occupied the country – the Greeks and their offshoots, and before that the Babylonians and the Assyrians. In fact Israel had not been a free nation for hundreds of years.

The Jews longed for the days of King Solomon, when Israel was at the height of her glory, and it looked like the Kingdom of God was becoming a reality. Prophets came and told the people to turn from their wicked ways, or God would send judgement on them. Most of the prophets were ridiculed or imprisoned or killed by the Jews, for giving such bad news. And just as the prophets foretold, so it was that they were conquered, oppressed and occupied by these foreign powers, and they longed for deliverance.

In that context, a prophet appears; the first after 400 yearsof silence: John the Baptist. John was Jesus’ cousin. He was a strange eccentric figure. He lived in the desert, he dressed strangely, he ate strange things, and he made a dramatic impact on Israel just before Jesus began His ministry. And John preached a baptism message of repentance, because the Kingdom of God was at hand. “Repent, for the K of G is at hand” (Matt 3:2)

And people came in droves into the desert to hear John. Why? He was the first prophet sent by God in 400 years. The people knew that God spoke to His people by means of prophets. Here at last, after 400 silent years, a prophet had arisen. “Repent for the Kindom of God is at hand.” John did not preach a sermon. He brought news: the long-awaited day had arrived! The people had great expectations. In Mark 1:5, we are told that the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to hear him.

And in that dramatic setting, among the crowds surrounding John the Baptist, Jesus makes His appearance. It was almost like He came anonymously: only John and a few of his followers noticed Him. Then Jesus did a very strange thing: instead of proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah and the Son of God who was bringing in the K of G, He came forward to be baptized!

Matt 3:13-15: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him, saying: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”.
Jesus replied “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. So John consented and proceeded to baptize Jesus. Now here’s the question: if Jesus was sinless, why did He request to receive the baptism of repentance? Wasn’t that out of line? Wasn’t it even blasphemy, to attribute sin to the Son of God? Apparently, God did not think so: Matt 3:16: As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment Heaven was opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Undoubtedly, on the surface, this is an enigmatic passage. First Jesus asks to receive the baptism for the repentance of sins from John. John finally consents to do it, and Jesus is baptized. Then God unmistakably adds His stamp of approval by descending upon Jesus like a dove (the HS), and speaking from heaven saying that He is well pleased with Him!

What’s going on? This does not make any sense. Was Jesus only going through the motions of being baptized in order to relate to sinners? Like drinking Ginger Ale at a cocktail party in order to “fit in”? In order to explain what happened here, let’s turn to the book of Daniel.

Read Dan 9:4-7:
Daniel is a righteous man and here in prayer and supplication, he confesses the sins of his people Israel! He repents of their wickedness and their stubbornness. Was he the one who was wicked and stubborn? No! But he puts himself in their place, he literally stands in the gap, between God and Israel. Nehemiah did the same thing. And that is what Jesus is doing when He asks to be baptized. He stands in the gap for Israel, He identifies with them. And that is the repentance that John the Baptist was proclaiming: it was a national, collective or group repentance.
He never said, “Some of you need to repent, for the K of G is at hand”. He said, “Repent, all of you, for the K of G is at hand.”

This was the kind of repentance that John called Israel to show. He spoke to Israel as a whole. Like all the prophets who preceded him, John told the people that they were chosen as a people, and as a people they would be judged, and as a people they needed to turn around and repent.
Jesus felt the sins of Israel deeply and personally. And so He began His ministry by fully embracing His people, sins and all.

Jesus did not cause Israel’s problems, but He took on her tragedy. He entered into Israel’s experience, carrying her load. And He would end His life in the same way, bearing the sins of Israel. The interesting thing is, of course, that we are the spiritual heirs of Israel. We – the Church. We are also not only personally guilty of sin; we are also collectively guilty of the collective sins of our Church, the Body of Christ. And the history of the Church throughout the centuries has shown that every time there is a revival, it is always preceded by Repentance.
Repentance not only of our individual sin, but also of our collective sin. For being tolerant of so many things that are an abomination to God. We need to repent of those things.