Friday, February 29, 2008

Larry Craig

I Believe In Jesus

  I think Jesus could win popularity polls even among people who are not Chris tians and those who are not even religious.  We have this picture in our minds of this great Teacher who went around and blessed children and fed multitudes and healed the sick.  What’s not to like about that?

            Believing in Jesus takes this a little further.  I like Jennifer Aniston, but I don’t live my life based on her teachings nor am I devoted to her.  And I certainly don’t pray to her or worship her. 

            Believing in Jesus can be understood on different levels.  For some it is His teachings that catch their interest.  Love your neighbor and turn the other cheek seem like good formulas for living one’s life as well as admirable goals for a society.  Those who admire Jesus for His teachings often don’t feel the need to inquire further into just whom this Jesus is.  They see no reason to even ask the question of whether this is indeed the unique Son of God and the Redeemer of the world.  They believe He can be admired for what He has done quite apart from the attributions of theologians and church leaders. 

            Probably for most of us who are reading this we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came into the world to save us.  Jesus came to bridge the gap between humankind and God that we might be reconciled together in peace.  Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead secured the deliverance of all those who put their faith in Him, not merely as a good teacher to be emulated but as our Champion and Savior and Lord whom we now worship and serve. 

            If we say that we believe in Jesus and that we love Him and serve Him, it is important that we know just who it is that we say we love and serve.  I mentioned Jennifer Aniston before, as someone that I like.  Do I know her?  Not at all apart from her marriage to Brad Pitt and subsequent divorce and her choice of careers, I know nothing about who she is.

            And who is Jesus?  What is He like?  Christians say that they know Him and have a personal relationship with Him.  Again, I ask, so what is He like?

            The only Jesus we know is the Jesus of the Bible. 

            Peter, who was one of Jesus’ closest associates described Jesus to others as Someone whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, who went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him (Acts 10:38).

            People have written whole books about Jesus, but I would like here to look at just one aspect of who He was: a healer.  This verse raises questions about the nature of sickness, which we will look at another time, but Jesus healed everyone who was oppressed.  The verse suggests that all sickness is an oppression of the devil (otherwise why would Peter just single out those sick people?), but for now we need to focus on the all.  Remember, the only Jesus we know is the Jesus of the Bible.  And He never turned anyone away who needed healing.

            On another occasion, the Bible says that He looked on the multitudes and had compassion on them and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).  Compassion means little if we don’t act on what we feel.  If I see you starving and just hold your hand and cry with you, but I don’t give you some of my food, those are all empty gestures.  If I don’t do things I can do to help a person in need, then any talk of my compassion or love is misplaced. 

            The only Jesus we know is a Jesus of compassion, and He is a healer. 

            Why aren’t more people healed?  This is only an article and not a book.  I did write a book on healing, which addresses that question, but for now we need to establish who this Jesus is whom we say we know and serve. 

            If the Jesus we know is not like the Jesus of the Bible, then it must not be the same Jesus.  If we say the Jesus changed from how He acted in the Bible, then how else did He change, and how do we know what He is like now?  We would need an updated Bible to tell us again what Jesus is like.  But that never happened. 

            The Jesus that we know and love is a Jesus of compassion.  That compassion is a healing compassion.  If we say that we know Jesus, then we can say that we know He wants to heal us.  To doubt that is to doubt His compassion. 

            The first step to being healed is to believe that Jesus wants to heal you.