Who Is This Guy?

This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish Sunday, September 21, 2014.  The Bible verses used are John 1:1-18.

            We’re in a sermon series called “Theology 101”, where we’re trying to learn more about God.  We’ve been starting out by looking at the trinity.  In the first week we took an overall look at the trinity, and last week we talked about God the Father.  Today, we’re going to look at God the Son, Jesus Christ.

            In some ways, this seems like the easiest person of the trinity for us to get to know.  After all, Jesus, God the Son, actually walked on the earth.  And while none of us was around back then, we do have eyewitness reports from people who were.  

And those reports are familiar to a lot of us.  We know a lot of the stories.  We know a lot of the stuff Jesus said.  We know a lot of the things Jesus did.  In fact, some of them have become common phrases, used by people who are not Christians and in fact may not know where the phrases come from.  “Turn the other cheek.”  “Seek and you will find.”  “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”  “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

And it’s the same thing with the stories.  The Good Samaritan.  The Prodigal Son.  Healing people.  Feeding people.  We feel like we know that stuff pretty well.  And so, we feel like we know Jesus pretty well, too.

And you know, the disciples thought they knew Jesus, too.  And they should have.  They were with him all the time.  They heard him say all kinds of things.  They saw him do all kinds of things.  They thought they knew him.  And then, all of a sudden, Jesus would say something extraordinary, or he’d walk on water, or he’d heal someone with just a word, and the disciples would be standing there with their mouths open.  And they’d say “Who is this guy?”  They thought they knew him so well, and yet they realized that did not know him at all.

This was not a faith issue, really.  The disciples believed in Jesus Christ.  They believed he was the savior.  But at the same time, he looked just like them.  He talked just like them.  He walked just like them.  He ate and drank and did everything just like any other human being would.  And so, even though the disciples knew better, they’d start thinking of Jesus as just another human being.  They’d forget that Jesus truly was Emmanuel, God with us.  And then he’d work a miracle or something, and the reality of who Jesus was would hit them.  They’d realize that he actually was God with them.  And they just were not ready for it.

And you and I do that sometimes, too.  We know Jesus is God, but sometimes we’ve heard those gospel stories so many times that that’s all they are to us, stories.  We forget that the words Jesus spoke truly are the words of God.  We forget that when Jesus was speaking, it was actually God speaking.

And because we forget that, we sometimes take the words of Jesus as just advice.  It may be good advice, but it’s still just advice.  We don’t really believe we have to follow it.  We don’t really believe we have to do what Jesus said.  I mean, Jesus lived two thousand years ago.  Things were different then.  Maybe those things worked back in Jesus’ time, but they would not work today.  No one could live their lives the way Jesus told us we should live them.  It sounded good and all, and some of it might be okay, but some of that stuff just is not practical in this day and age.

We forget that Jesus is God, God with us, God the Son.  Jesus’ words are timeless because Jesus himself is timeless.  That’s why we read the passage from the gospel of John this morning.  Jesus is referred to in that passage as “the Word”.  We’re told that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made.  Without him nothing was made that has been made.

Jesus is God.  God is timeless.  Therefore Jesus is timeless.  Therefore the words Jesus said are also timeless.  They did not come with an expiration date.  We can choose not to follow them, but if we do we’re choosing not to follow Jesus.  So in other words, if we choose not to follow Jesus’ words, if we choose not to follow The Word, we’re choosing not to be Christians.

Jesus chose his words carefully.  Jesus said what he meant.  And Jesus meant what he said.  And some of the things he said are not easy for us.  But they are the words of God.  They’re the words of God the Father, and they’re the words of God the Son.  They’re the words of God the Holy Spirit, too.  And they’re not always easy words for us to deal with.

Jesus said we should love our enemies.  Do you feel love for your enemies?  Do you?  All of them?  If you do, you’re a lot better than I am.  Jesus said we should pray for those who persecute us.  Are you doing that?  Are you, for example, praying for the ISIS terrorists?  Do you feel love for them?

Jesus said absolutely nothing should get in the way of following him.  Not our jobs, not even our families.  Jesus said that not only should following him be our top priority, it should be our only priority.  Is that true for you?  Is following Jesus the only priority in your life?  Or is it just one of the many things you do in your life?

Now look, I’m not judging anyone here.  I don’t know what you feel.  I don’t know who you pray for.  I don’t know what your priorities are.  And I certainly don’t claim to follow all these things perfectly, either.  I don’t always love my enemies.  I don’t always pray for people who persecute me.  I let other things get in the way of following Jesus.  I’m not proud of that, but I do, and you know me and you know that I do.  I’m not any better at this than you are.

But the thing is, we convince ourselves that it’s okay.  We’re like the disciples.  We start thinking Jesus is just this guy.  Yeah, he’s a good guy, and he’s smart, and we like him.  In fact, we’re kind of proud to be with him.  But we forget who Jesus really is.  We forget that this is Emmanuel, God with us.  And then, something happens to get our attention.  It may be a good thing, or it may be a not-so-good thing.  But somehow, something happens, and it gets our attention, and we suddenly realize who Jesus is.  And we’re standing there with our mouths open.  We think, “Who is this guy?”  We think we know Jesus so well, and then we realize that we really don’t know Jesus at all.

Jesus, God the Son, Emmanuel, God with us, told us that he was sent here by the Father.  He was sent here to say some things, and he was sent here to do some things.  And the hardest thing that he was sent here to do was to die.  And not just to die, but to be killed.  And not just to be killed, but to be killed in a very painful way.  He was sent here to do that as a punishment.  Not as a punishment for what he’d done, but as a punishment for what we’ve done.  You, and me, and everyone else who has ever walked on this earth and who ever will walk on this earth.

What that means is this.  God sees that we are sinners.  And God is a just God.  God’s sense of justice demands that there be a punishment for our sins.  But God is also a loving and merciful God.  So, because of God’s love and mercy, God does not punish us for our sins.  Instead, God himself took the punishment for our sins.  God, in the form of Jesus, God the Son, God with us, took the punishment, the pain, the death, that we should get.

And because God took that punishment, we don’t have to.  We can have forgiveness.  We can have eternal life.  We get off scot-free.  It’s God’s gift to us.  All we have to do is accept it.  And the way we accept it is simply to believe that it’s true.  The way we accept it is to believe that Jesus is, in fact, God the Son, and is the Savior.

So let’s accept it.  Let’s believe in Jesus as God the Son.  Let’s believe in Jesus as the Savior.  And then, let’s live in such a way that we truly can be considered followers of Jesus.  Will we fail sometimes?  Yes, probably, because we’re human.  But let’s not use that as an excuse, either.  Let’s do all we can to live in such a way that we truly can be considered followers of Jesus.  And let’s quit asking “Who is this guy?”  Let’s know that Jesus Christ truly is Emmanuel, God the Son, and is our Savior.