Seeing Jesus Clearly
Up until my 7th-grade year, my brother and I had attended larger public schools, and then we had a short stint of homeschooling, which was probably more traumatic for my mom in the long run than for either of us. Halfway through my 8th-grade year, my parents enrolled my brother and me at a small Christian private school. They probably figured that we needed all the help we could get! I spent the next four and a half years there with teachers who encouraged us daily in the love of Jesus. I am grateful for those years and relationships. One person, in particular, was my sophomore-year Bible teacher, Mr. Rosio. He was a pastor of a small church and was on the board of the school. I don’t remember much from his class except two questions that he always seemed to fit into any and every discussion. They are:
Who is Jesus? And, who is Jesus to you?
Truth be told, Mr. Rosio was on to something; these are quite possibly the two most important questions for all of humanity. Yes, I know that is a BIG statement. But, Jesus makes an equally BIG statement in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That is quite the statement. And, if we believe that it is actually true, it means that we believe something about Jesus that is very significant. We believe that he is God and that he alone holds the keys to victory over sin and death. In other words, we believe that Jesus changes everything. We also know that if this is true about Jesus, that he can change everything, then he must require something of me. In his book, The Signature of Jesus, Brennan Manning expresses that truth this way, “And Jesus demands nothing less than the placing of our own egos and desires on the Cross.” If Jesus can change everything, then he can change me. That should come as both exciting and sobering news. It is sobering because I am not complete in and of myself. And I can’t complete myself. However, it is exciting because I do not have to stay in that place of incompletion or un-doneness. Redemption, restoration, and renewal are found in Jesus and Jesus alone. That is why it is critical to see Jesus clearly. So, who is Jesus? And, who is he to you?
In Revelation 5:5, we find an equally striking statement about Jesus. John finds himself in a moment of great distress and is weeping because he is fully aware of the need for redemption and the problem of evil that plagues humanity, and he doesn’t see anyone who is able to do anything about it. Then, one of the elders says this to John, “5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Revelation reminds us that when we see Jesus clearly, we see the one who is able to change you and me from the inside out, and we see the one who is able and absolutely will hold all evil and injustice accountable.
So, who is Jesus to you?
Is he just an eternal insurance policy? Good to get me into heaven, but not sufficient to sit on the throne of my life now.
Or, is he the Lamb who is worthy? The one who rescues me from my despair and will right all wrongs