Who is Jesus?

In recent years, there has been a tendency to reduce Jesus to the level of a great teacher or a great prophet or guru. Some Christian theologians even describe him as someone who is like all men in virtue of his identity with human nature but distinguished by them all by the constant potency of his God consciousness. They describe him as someone who has a super God’s consciousness. They try to understand Jesus not on ontological term but in psychological or relational term. This shift has had a negative consequences on how we teach and preach and evangelize. This approach to Christology (commonly called the immanent approach), even though it is more accessible to modern people, turns Jesus into a super saint. It’s like saying, “Mr. A has God consciousness; Mrs. B has a higher one, and Jesus has the best and more potent of God consciousness. Check this out! Saints are people who have the awareness of God. They are in constant relation with God. To insist that Jesus has more of what the saint has is to turn him into a super saint. But the problem here is this, if Jesus is simply a super saint, the question then is “Is he really the Savior and Redeemer?” The saints are saints because they are in relation to Christ the Redeemer. But if Christ himself is merely a super saint, then is he really himself the Redeemer? It seems he too would need a redeemer as well. If what we are talking about is God’s consciousness, then what really distinguishes Jesus from the Buddha, or Mohammed, or from a great Hindu or mystic, or sage, or even from Socrates or any great figure who had a heightened religious consciousness? What really made Jesus distinct from these and other figures? This would be very difficult to articulate or teach. If you even press it further, one can also ask what distinguishes Jesus from someone like St. Francis of Assisi who had a powerful God consciousness. What makes him different from any of the great saints? If Jesus has God’s consciousness even if it is to the highest degree, why do we particularly focus on him? Why do we evangelize him in particular? If someone reads a great book written by a great Sufi mystic and thereafter experiences a heightened religious awareness, why then should a Christian insist that the person follow Jesus or to say that Jesus has some superiority? Like I said before, the problem that this Christological view presents is that it gives room to question like why should this Christ be uniquely emphasized? The shift from the ontological to more psychological or relational Christology has lots of bad consequences to the way we teach and preach.

But this view of Jesus is not what we find in the New Testament. The most fundamental thing to know about Jesus is that he is God. Jesus is the God man.  Although, there’s a hyper stress on his humanity, and yes, Jesus is human, but the most important thing to also know about him is that he's divine as well. The gospel of John tells us that “In the beginning was the Word…” The same Word, by the way, that made the whole universe, that grounds the intelligibility of the world, that is behind all the science of the world, the same Word who is God became flesh in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, in John's Gospel Jesus says, “Before Abraham was I am.” His “I am”  echoes the “I am who I am” of Exodus 3: 14 when Moses asked God what's your name and God says “I am who I am.” Jesus echoes the same thing: I am the bread of life; I am the Good Shepherd; before Abraham was I am. 

In the Gospel of John 14:8, Philip says, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Responding to his request, Jesus says, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? (John 14:9-10a). In John's Gospel, it  is explicitly laid out that Jesus is divine. But John is not the only one that stressed the divinity of Jesus. The same is true in the other Gospels as well, although they use somewhat different symbol system. Take for instance the healing of the paralytic. When four men lowered from the roof of a house a paralyzed man before Jesus, he was impressed by their faith. Then turning to the paralyzed man, Jesus said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” After hearing Jesus utter those words, some of the infuriated scribes questioned, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Mark 2:1-12) The precise and clear point that Mark is making is  that this Jesus is God.  

In the synoptic Gospels (Luke 14: 26; Matthew 10:37; and Mark 8:35) Jesus declares  unless you love me more than your mother and father, more than your very life, you are not worthy of me. That’s an extraordinary thing to say. It’s a breathtaking comment! We can imagine a religious teacher say, “unless you love my teaching more than your mother and father… unless you love God…. “ I can imagine any prophet or guru or teacher say that unless you love his teaching more than your folks. But in the case of Jesus, he says unless you love me more than the greatest good in the world, you are not worthy of me. Who could possibly say that coherently and boldly except the one who is himself the highest good? I make bold to say that only the one who is God can make such a bold claim.

When laying out a series of new teaching about the law, about anger, about adultery, about divorce, about oat taking, about retaliation, and about love of enemies (Matt. 5:17-48), Jesus keeps saying over and over again, “You have heard that it was said… But now I say to you…” The question is, where was it said? When Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors…” where is what was said to the Jewish ancestors recorded? It’s in the Torah! For the first century Jew, the Torah is the highest authority in the land because the Torah was seen as the word of God. But who is this Galilean prophet claiming authority even over the Torah? Who could do that except the one who is himself the author of the Torah?  When we read all this in the Gospel, we take it for granted, but it is a breathtaking declaration that Jesus made. And throughout the gospels we hear of this affirmation that Jesus is God. In St. Paul’s letters which of course  precede the Gospel, written probably in the first century, he asserts repeatedly Iesous Kyrios— Jesus is the Lord. Paul who was previously Saul studied at the feet of the Gamaliel, the greatest rabbi at the time. He knew the Old Testament through and through, and what is basic in the Old Testament is Adonai, which means Lord, a term used exclusively for God. So, when Paul who knew that tradition in and out said that Jesus is Lord, he knew exactly what he was saying and he knew how strange and radical it was, that this Jesus is God. 

Now, it is because Jesus is God that's why he compels a choice in the way that no other founder does. Mohammad, to his credit, never claimed to be God. He only said that he was a messenger, that he received a message from God. Moses to his credit never claimed to be divine. He said he received the law from God and wants to give it to the people. The Buddha, to his credit never claimed to be divine. He only said he found a way and wants people to follow it. Here now is Jesus. He doesn't say I found a way; he says “I am the way.” He doesn't say I found the truth I want to share with you. He says, “I am the truth.” He doesn’t say there is a new mode of life that I discovered I want to share with you. He says, “I am the life.” These claims are the unique treasure of Christianity. They compel a choice. As Jesus himself said, either you're with me or you're against me.  If Jesus is what he says he is, then I must give my whole life to him. He is God. He is the Highest Good. It is either you gather with him or you scatter. Either you are with Jesus or you are against him. The gospel is the good news about this Jesus; it compels on those who hear it a decision and choice.