Who Is Jesus?
Who is Jesus to you? C. S. Lewis famously said in Mere Christianity:
“A man who was merely a man and said
the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would
either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg —
or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this
man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.”[1]
Tamed Jesus
So,
who is Jesus to you? In today’s
passage, the people of Jesus’ hometown thought they knew him. They saw him grow
up, knew his family, and assumed they understood everything about him. But
their knowledge of Jesus was shallow—they
didn’t know who he truly was. They were impressed by Jesus’ teaching, but their
response was skeptical: “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?” (Luke 4:22)
Matthew
13 adds more detail: "We've known him since he was a kid; he's the
carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and
Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he
is?" (vv. 55-56, MSG) And they were deeply offended and refused to believe
in him.
They
had a “tamed” Jesus – a version they could control and fit in their
expectations. But this left no room for the real Jesus to work in their lives.
Real Jesus
Who is Jesus to you? In today’s passage, Jesus read
Isaiah 61:1-2 – a passage bout the Messiah’s mission – and declared, “Today,
this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.” (Luke 4:21) In other
words, Jesus was saying, “I am the Messiah.”
Throughout
the gospels, especially the Gospel of John, again and again Jesus made claims about
his divine identity:
· “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).
· “The Father and I are one” (10:30).
· “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (14:6).
· “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).
Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to redeem us.
The Poor
So,
who is Jesus to you? In today’s
passage, Jesus declared his mission:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach the good
news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
Who
are the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed? They are not
separate groups but one: those who acknowledge their spiritual poverty and
blindness, and desperate need for God. These are the “poor in spirit” Jesus
blesses in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
One
day Jesus tells a story about two men who went to the temple to pray. The
Pharisee stood confidently and prayed, “God, I thank you that I’m not like
other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I
fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” His prayer was full of pride,
focused on his own righteousness and external acts. In contrast, the tax
collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even look up to heaven but beat his
chest and prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” His prayer was simple,
humble, and heartfelt. This is the language of the poor in spirit. "You're
blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of
God and his rule.” (Mt 5:3, MSG)
Let
me share a faith story of a couple who went from knowing about Jesus to truly knowing Him. When they got married, they
considered themselves Christians. They had both grown up in church, but Jesus
didn’t influence their daily choices or priorities—they lived like everyone
around them.
One
day, Jehovah’s Witnesses visited the wife, and she started a Bible study with
them. After about a year, one of the leaders said something that stayed with
her: “You need to know what you believe.” Those words lingered in her heart. As
she prayed about it, she felt a conviction that she should stop the study with
them. Instead, she began attending church in Oakfield. There, for the first
time, she truly heard the gospel and encountered the real Jesus—the Jesus who
transforms lives. Her heart was changed.
She
invited her husband to join her at church, and he began to listen as well. Not
long after, the husband attended an evangelistic meeting in Dyer Brook. The
speaker shared the parable of the ten virgins—the five wise who were ready for
the bridegroom and the five foolish who were not. The speaker asked a piercing
question: “Are you ready?” In that moment, he felt as if God was speaking
directly to him. He realized he wasn’t ready. He saw his spiritual poverty,
spiritual bankruptcy. He repented and surrendered his life to Jesus that very
day. From then on, their lives were never the same. Jesus was no longer a
distant figure or a part of their upbringing—He became their Lord. Jesus touched
every part of their lives. Before, Jesus was useful to them. They prayed to Jesus when needed. But now, Jesus
became precious. This is Tom and Jane
Zimmerman’s faith story. This is the story of the poor in spirit.
Knowing Jesus
There
was once a sculptor who created a beautiful statue of Jesus. People came from
far and wide to see it—Jesus, full of strength and tenderness, captured in
stone. They walked around it, looking from every angle, trying to fully take in
its beauty and power. But no matter how hard they tried, something always
seemed to be missing. Finally, someone asked the sculptor, “What’s the best way
to see it?” The sculptor smiled and said, “There’s only one way to truly see
him. You have to kneel.”[2]
Jesus
came not just to be useful, but to be precious.
Jesus is not just a friend or a life coach. He is much more—He is the Messiah,
the Son of God, our Savior, and Master. To truly know Jesus, we must approach him
with humility and worship. May God give us the grace to see Christ for who He
truly is. Amen.
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