Jesus
I visited several Sunday school classes and asked them to give me one-word descriptions of Jesus. The words came easily: love, goodness, humble, divine, pious, thoughtful, caring, kind, devout, meek, gentle.
Then I asked: “If these one-word descriptions were all they knew about Jesus, what would they think of our Lord and Savior?” There was a long silence. Finally, one youth spoke up and said, “He must be a really nice person.”
Yes, Jesus was nice but why would religious leaders of that day be so mad at such a nice man. So mad, they wanted to kill him in the most gruesome way possible. Movies about Jesus don’t help because they often portray him as short and thin with long hair, almost like a flower child from the hippie era. Why would anyone get so mad at someone who is so nice?
Jesus was no flower child, and he was much more than a nice person! From the beginning Jesus displayed inner strength and purpose that led many people to love him as their Savior and others to hate him as a blasphemer and rabble rouser. You could love him or hate him, but you could not ignore Jesus Christ.
Jesus reached out to the poor and disadvantaged. But his words for the religious leaders were harsh because of their failure to help the needy. In chapter 23 of Matthew, Jesus called out religious leaders as hypocrites and snakes, not once but several times.
Why was Jesus rejected by the leaders of that day? He demanded they clean up their act and practice what they preached. This man of strength bravely stood up to the most prominent people of the area and told them to change or else. Did they listen? Yes… they got rid of the messenger. They crucified the Son of God.
And then, this man of immense strength, says to people who rejected him, who shouted “crucify him,” who watched as he was lashed and beaten, nailed to a cross and left to die. He said: “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” When the God who loved us enough to became human and endure a cruel agonizing death on the cross, I listen with respect and devotion.
C.S. Lewis wrote: “A man who said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d be a lunatic. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
Prayer Challenge: Jesus is expecting a response from us. This Lenten season is an opportunity to dig into your Bible and learn what Jesus is saying to you.