Who is Jesus?
Jesus
Jesus, the son of Joseph
Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth
Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth, the rightful heir to David’s throne
Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth, rightful heir to David’s throne, the Messiah
The reality is this, no matter how you look at him, trace his lineage, or think about the book that gives witness to his life, death, and resurrection, there is no denying that Jesus was a real person. And more importantly, there is no denying that he changed everything.
For the past 2000+ years, we’ve been debating him, worshipping him, and hinging our entire dating system around his birth. Ancient Roman historians like Josephus admitted his existence and even considered that the resurrection might just have happened.
“Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works–a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”[1]
Third-century theological voices and scholars like the North African pastor Athanasius vigorously defended the reality of the resurrection. On the argument that the resurrection was just a hoax, Athanasius writes, “If, then, there were no works, they would do well to disbelieve what does not appear; but if the works cry out and show it clearly, why do they choose to deny the life so patently of the resurrection?”[2] But, there were works and eyewitness accounts that gave testimony to the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
And even modern voices like C.S. Lewis argued in his work, Mere Christianity, that Jesus is one of three options, a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.[3] No matter how you answer Lewis’ argument, the frank reality is that Jesus changed everything, and the very mention of his name requires an answer.
Some 2000+ years after his life, death, and resurrection, we are still thinking about, talking about, and trying to understand Jesus. The question that lingers is, why? If he really was a person of little consequence, if his miracles were easily explained away as natural phenomena, or if his resurrection was just a hoax, why are we still fixated on him?
Maybe, just maybe, it is because he is the one who is capable of changing you and me.
Maybe, just maybe, it is because he is all that the Bible proclaims him to be.
He has changed everything. That much is clear.
So, who do you say that he is?
[1] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 9, Paragraph 1
[2] Athanasius of Alexandria. On the Incarnation. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011), 83.
[3] Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1952.