What About Jesus?
We live in a world of exaggerated claims. We are bombarded with commercials that labor to convince us that the advertised product is the answer to life’s problems. In a world of overstatements and salesmanship we often develop a callous disbelief that protects us from such lies and deceptions. What happens when we really hear the truth? What happens when we come across something that really is the deal of a lifetime? The sad truth is that we will often miss such opportunities.
In the Bible we are given glimpses into the mind of God. God pulls back the curtain and reveals to us who He is, what He is like, and what He thinks about us. These are great blessings to behold, yet many people have a “ho-hum” attitude about God’s efforts at reaching out to us. Within the pages of Scripture there is an exhortation where we are challenged to have the mind of Jesus. In Jesus, God dared to incarnate Himself. The incarnation is where God put on human flesh and became the God-man. Jesus was fully God and fully man. While this boggles the mind, do not dismiss such a great and amazing truth.
Consider this, the pagan cultures in the first-century had some bizarre religious ideas. The Roman and Greek religions had no problem with the “gods” walking among mankind. Greek and Roman mythology was filled with demigods (individuals who were sired by one of the gods). Despite this precedent, when Christianity was spreading through the Roman world the message of Jesus was scoffed at. The idea that there was only one God was outrageous in their polytheistic (the belief in multiple gods) mindset. The idea that Jesus was fully God and yet was fully man did not fit their preconceived notions. Despite this obstacle, the Gospel of Jesus turned the Roman world upside down.
An even harder task was taking the Gospel to the Jewish community. While the Romans could stomach a demigod or some sort of deity walking among men, the Jewish mind would not tolerate such a thought. If a person claimed to be God, he or she would be stoned to death. This is why when Jesus claimed He was God, the statement was always one that got the people’s attention. In Luke 4, Jesus claimed that He was the long-predicted messiah. He hinted strongly regarding His divinity, and the result was that people wanted to throw Him off the nearest cliff. Understand this, Jesus came into a culture that was not looking for God in human flesh. They wanted God’s help, but the incarnation was not in their minds at all.
Despite such difficulties, Jesus got the Jewish people’s attention as well. As a matter of fact, Jesus always elicited a strong reaction from those who listened to Him. Some hated Jesus. They hated His claim to be God. Others ran away from Jesus. They were afraid of His audacious claims; Jesus must be a mad man, they thought. Then there were those who loved Jesus. They were amazed at what He taught. They heard Jesus and said: “No one has ever spoken like this!” They were shocked by the miracles He performed. They said: “No one has ever done things like this. He even raises the dead!”
As I initially pointed out, we live in a world of word inflation. Big claims. Gimmicks galore. So, what do we do with Jesus and His astounding claims? There is no way that you can genuinely consider Jesus and simply have a lukewarm response. For someone to say: I like Jesus, but I do not believe what he said, this is to miss what He is saying. When someone claims to be God in the flesh, that individual is either a liar, a lunatic, or he is God. All three possibilities are extreme. None of them allow for a casual dismissal. So, when the Bible exhorts us to put on the mind of Christ, this is a huge declaration. To put on the mind of Christ is to make Jesus the master of one’s life. We are all “mastered” by something or someone. While most people like to think they are their own master, it is not true. At best we choose who or what we will serve or follow.
How many people are living miserable and destroyed lives because they are mastered by devastating addictions? How many people have set themselves up for failure and misery because they are following something that will not live up to their expectations? This is one of the reasons why we must follow Jesus. Simply put, following Jesus is the right thing to do because He is the King of this creation. But, following Jesus is also the best thing to do because He is our loving God. He desires to take care of us and have loving fellowship with us. Keep looking up!