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Transparent JesusTuesday, April 3, 2001
John 8:21-30 There are plenty of liars and lunatics around, plenty of them in the church. I've been one. I've also been skeptical and angry and blamed Jesus for the awful atrocities perpetrated by the church, by people in the church. History is full of religious hatred and evil. Spiritual abuse taints most ministries. Self-righteousness sucks us all in sometimes. Jesus, being the leader, gets hit with some of this muck. It doesn't stick, though. He's not a liar, he's not a lunatic. Evidence, both historic and personal, points to the truth of his outrageous and astonishing statements about himself. Jesus is Lord. But relationship with Jesus is an option, not a requirement. I am drawn away regularly by people and things; my emotions and thoughts twist and turn in the winds of my self-interest. Comfort calls, I want to make it mine, I grasp it, I hold it tight. Then Jesus' sweet transparency moves me again. He is who he says he is. And he is the only one who lets me be who I am made to be. He doesn't try to change me; if I call him Lord I will become who I have always been made to be. Listening to his words, watching him, challenging him, letting him love me, I know that my redeemer lives. Little children know you best, Lord, they see nothing dark or confusing when they look at you. They know you and they love you. Let me see you that way, Jesus, let me be a little child. *Evidence Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell |
Josh McDowell* and others distill possible perspectives on Jesus into three colorful labels; he can be a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. Jesus told his listeners he came to divide them with a sword; they must either love him or hate him. They could not engage in relationship with him and stay neutral. Neither can I.