qondio.com/te1n

Jesus ~ Who do men say I am?

By Jim Odom

Throughout recorded history men have questioned, “who is Jesus?” Even Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say I am?” It is apparent that Jesus was a man who was indeed an historical figure. No one denies that he existed. The only question is, was he the Messiah, was he a good man, was he a prophet, was he a fraud, was he a lunatic, was he truly the Son of God?

BC AD

He must have had a profound effect on mankind. After all, recorded history even is recorded as BC, before his birth and AD, after his birth. So we can safely acknowledge first of all that he “existed”. He is not like the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. Even those who deny that he was anything other than a man, at least acknowledge that he was a man who walked on the earth at a particular time in history.

There are some who say that his resurrection was staged and that he didn't really die on the cross but merely “swooned”. It was only assumed that he was dead when he was taken off the cross and he later revived. But the point I would make is that he was alive and that at some point he died. He was a real person who lived and died.

His Birth

God spoke to Mary and told her she would bear a son and that He would be the Son of God. Mary's reply that showed her faith was, "Let it be unto thine handmaiden according to your word". God's plan was to speak a word and Mary's faith would bring God's word into existence. God's word...Mary's faith; the Divine and the earthly would combine to form Jesus. 100% God and 100% man.

Jesus could not have been born of an earthly father. If he had, He would have been born under the cuse that befell all of the original Adam's offspring. He would have been born with a sin nature and thus guilty and worthy of death as a punishment for his sin. In order to fulfill God's plan, He must be born free of sin and the curse of sin.

His Life

Jesus went about doing miracles and healing men. He taught that Love was the most important principle. At times He would tell someone that He forgave their sins. During that time, it was believed that sickness and deformities were brought on by sin, either the sins of the person who was sick, or the sins of their father.

At one time when Jesus was healing a sick person, He asked which was easier, to say, “be healed “or to say, “Thy sins be forgiven”? The man whose sin was forgiven was a cripple who walked after Jesus told him his sins were forgiven. He did this to show that he had the power to heal sicknesses and forgive sins.

He showed that He had the power to forgive sins by making the following statement, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me...” Jesus also said to the soldiers who came to take Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, when asked if He was Jesus of Nazareth, He replied “I AM”. He used the term that was used by the Jews of that time to signify the name of God. Moses had asked God, “Whom shall I say you are, and God said, tell them, 'I AM.' Jesus was not afraid to tell His followers that He was the Messiah they sought. The Son of the Living God.

His Death

Mel Gibson produced and directed a film titled “The Passion of the Christ” that was rated “R”. Quite frankly if the true story of Jesus' crucifixion were told, it would be rated XXX. When stories are told of the beating he took (called being “scourged”), it is thought of as a beating with leather straps. These cat o nine tails that were used to “scourge” the prisoners of that day were not merely leather straps. The straps had fragments of bone embedded in the ends of them. Very rarely did a man survive a beating of 40 lashes. The straps tore flesh off the body. Bones were exposed. The Romans administering the beatings were covered in blood. Skin, flesh, and muscle were torn from His bones. The Bible relates that his visage was not recognized as human.

By the time he suffered through the beating and hung on the cross, virtually every drop of blood had drained from his body. The final spear thrust into his side produced nothing but water draining from his chest cavity. Was he dead? Some say no. He was taken to a tomb. The Roman Government had heard that his disciples believed He would rise from the dead. They placed guards at the tomb to insure that His disciples did not “steal” the body and claim that he was risen. Some say the Roman guards went to sleep and His body was stolen any way. The stone covering the entrance was quite heavy and pushed down hill to seal the entrance to the tomb. Some say he was unconscious and later revived. Some say he died but his disciples stole the body.

Liar

What do you think? Jesus said that on the third day he would rise from the dead. He said that He was the Son of God and died for the sin of mankind. He said he was the way the truth and the life. He said while He was hanging on the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Was Jesus a liar? That would seem to be the only conclusion to be drawn if you believe any of the other claims about what happened. If you believe that He didn't die and wasn't raised from the dead after 3 days, you would have to conclude that Jesus was a liar. Some say He was a great prophet but not the Son of God. How could He be a great prophet and also be a liar? You can't have it both ways. If He didn't die and if He was not raised from the dead, then you can't say He was a great prophet.

Lunatic

There is another possibility. Could He have been a lunatic? Is it possible that He was completely convinced tha He WAS the Son of God and that He was going to live forever, but was insane? Still if this were true, we can't call Him a great prophet. For this to be plausible, you would also have to believe that His body was stolen from the tomb. Roman soldiers were sent to guard the tomb under penalty of death if they slept on their watch. The disciples were frightened and scattered in all directions when Jesus was captured. They abandoned Jesus for fear that they would be taken to trial with Him. It would be pretty far fetched to believe somehow they found the courage to act out such a hoax. But what other conclusion could be drawn?

Lord

The only other conclusion would be that Jesus is Lord and that He is who He said He was,..I AM HE. He was made to be a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law. It seems that the more educated we are, the more difficult it is to grasp the simple truth. God created us. He wanted to communicate with us. He wanted to intervene and pay the price for our transgressions. He carried our sins so that we could receive His righteousness. A poignant story by Paul Harvey explains the story better than I ever could explain it:

The story is about a man who just couldn't swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man. He just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. Then he saw a flock of birds outside his window. They were going to freeze to death in the approaching storm. He tried to get them to go inside the warm barn. He tried coaxing them in. He tried shoeing them in, but they saw him as some kind of monster. If only he could speak their language. If only he could become one of them so he could lead them to the safety of the barn...if only; Just then he heard the bells of the church and was reminded that that was exactly what God did for us. He became one of us so He could lead us to safety! Listen to Paul Harvey tell the story as only Paul Harvey can do it by clicking the link below.

Have you decided yet? Is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or should He become your Lord? These are the only conclusions you can draw. The answer to this question is one we all must come to grips with. For me it was after I had been to College. No one can tell a college student about nonsense like this. I was too educated. But all it took was for my wife to ask me one question. What do you believe in your heart?

Contributor's Note

This past weekend we celebrated Easter Sunday. I was inspired to write this rather lengthy Intel on the subject

You say that Jesus could not have been born to an earthly father but are you saying that Mary was not of this Earth? Another question I could really do without.

As you say, there is little doubt that Jesus did live but is He a single autonomous being or is he an amalgam of the many messiahs that populated the Holy Land in his day?

It is so unfortunate that the Bible has been moulded to create a 'truth' that suits the pecuniary desires of organised religion.

It is as your wife so wisely comments, a personal matter that lies in your heart.

Mary of course was a human who carried Jesus. But his SEED was of God (the word of God). You've heard the reference, "bad seed" in reference to someone from an evil father. The beginning of Jesus was from good seed. If you plant corn, you get corn. If you plant any seed, you get what was in the seed.

Was not Caesar, single autonomous being? King Tut? Jesus was an historical figure widely written about by his contemporaries and later through stories handed down. But that he was a "real" person is not disputed by very many people.

Your title refers to Mark 8:27 And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesare'a Philip'pi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?"

verse 28 tells us, "And they told him, "John the Baptist, and others say, Eli'jah; and others one of the prophets."

Interestingly this indicates many people at that time believed in reincarnation.

For me the truth is found in John 2:13-25 with attention to verse 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The questions I get from verse 19 is why did he say "I" and "it". He was clearly talking about a physical resurrection from destruction/death which would agree with what the Pharisees belived.

compare the "I" in John 2:19 to Acts 13:30 But God raised him from the dead.

The reason He said "I" will raise it up is because He was God. It's hard for us to get our heads around the Trinity. Jesus was both God and man. He was referred to as the Son of God and the Son of Man. Therefore there is no conflict in the two verses you point out.

When I look in the mirror, that slab of fat I see is not the "real me". That body is almost like a suit of clothes I wear. The real me is my spirit. I am a spirit; I live in a body; and I have a soul/mind. We are triune beings made in the image of God

I'm glad to see that you are a student of the Bible

Mary was human and, therefor, was tainted with original sin. To believe or try to portray all males humans as sinful and all female humans as sinless is a rather convenient argument.

Rather as in one of the parables, some seed will fall upon good ground and some will fall upon barren ground. No matter what the quality of the seed, it is the ground upon which it falls and the surrounding ecology that enables it to grow.

Do we have to assume that Mary was able to live a totally sinless life - even as far as disobeying the law at the time of 'cleaving to her husband' without censure?

There is very little contemporary writing from the time of Jesus and none that can be definitely identified as relating specifically to him. Most of the stories of Jesus and the disciples were passed on by word of mouth in the traditional manner of the day. Few were committed to writing for several hundreds of years.

Keep in mind that some of what I comment on has not very much basis in scripture. In this comment, I may take a word and make a sentence. Some of what people debate involving Religion has not a lot of bearing on the big picture. but here goes; my theory is that the woman was deceived and was not a rebel to God. The man however saw what the woman did. He saw how it affected her. Then he became a willing participant and intentionally turned his back on God. Thus I think man carries the bad seed and all mankind has been tainted. "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God".

God could have used a different method of getting Jesus to earth "sin-free". (a lightning storm in the desert and the sand could have become flesh) God wanted the whole plan to be a secret from Satan. (For if Satan had known, he wouldn't have crucified the Son of God) If Jesus had been born in some dramatic fashion, his birth would have been more heralded.

Jesus is often called the second Adam. God was giving man a second chance to "have dominion over all the earth". Since Jesus was also divine, had he succumbed to the temptation of Satan, all of Heaven AND earth would have then come under Satan's dominion.

But how could Jesus have failed? He operated while on earth as a human. He was just like the first Adam before he was cut off from God by sin. He had the same temptations. Satan took Him high on a hill and told him to look, "All these kingdoms are yours if you just bow and worship me".

The important point is that Jesus was free of original sin. How that happened is less worthy of debate as THAT it happened. If He had not been free of sin, his death could have been deserved. (the wages of sin is death) Jesus had to be sin-free so he could die for OUR sins, not HIS.

Thank you for sharing this well researched and well written intel, Jim. Our heart felt beliefs are all we really have and can only hope that will be enough to give us everlasting peace.
Best to you.
Frederick

I been told that it's best not to discuss Religion, politics, or money. But what fun would be left.

For my part it is disappointing that an individual who amassed such reverence was only written about more than 100 years after his death. What we rely on and the words we select to highlight contained in the bible are those included by individuals with collected pieces of information passed on by word of mouth. It seems reasonable to suggest that those who wrote the bible included their own interpretation of the messages Jesus wanted us to share.

That Jesus existed is I think indisputable. He was undoubtedly a gifted individual capable of capturing the spirit and mood of all around him. What made him stand out was his compassion and understanding of human frailty and the ability to express his feelings clearly. Because he lived in an environment that shared little in common with anyone motivated by compassion for their fellow man, he would have brought a ray of hope to the majority that were ruled by a minority.

His real gift to humanity was that he provided a direction for all to follow that placed people first no matter what their status.

I agree with your comments to a point. But, I would say Jesus' MOST important gift to humanity was his willingness to be crucified for us even though He had done no wrong.

A lot of men have provided direction and showed us how to live. Only Jesus could die FOR us.

The copyright for this content entitled "Jesus ~ Who do men say I am?" has been specified by the contributor as:

This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as a) it's for non-commercial use and b) the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page. If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL: