Who Is Jesus?

             Even during Jesus’ own time, people were asking themselves this question. “Who then is this?” his disciples asked as they watched him wake from his nap and calm a violent Galilean storm with a simple rebuke (Mark 4.41). “Who is this?” the Jews asked themselves as they watched him forgive the sins of a woman who wept at his feet (Luke 7.49). Even officers sent to arrest him came back empty-handed, sheepishly telling their superiors that “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7.46). Clearly, Jesus was a man unlike any the Jews had experienced. But who was he?

Interestingly, that was a question Jesus himself asked his disciples. “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8.27-29). They gave him the various incorrect answers they had heard amongst their friends and acquaintances: “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” When Jesus asked them a follow-up question, “But who do YOU say that I am?,” Peter correctly identified his teacher by declaring, “You are the Christ.” Indeed, Jesus was the anointed deliverer that the Jews had long expected. But contrary to common expectations of the time, the kingdom Jesus created was never designed to conquer the world at the point of a sword. In fact, when Peter pulled out a sword on the night Jesus was arrested and attempted to fight with it, his master promptly told him to put it away (John 18.11). Because Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, his servants did not physically take up arms to fight (John 18.36).

Instead, Jesus set his eyes on conquering a much more formidable foe than the armies of Rome. Ironically, through the temporary humiliation of dying naked on a Roman cross, Jesus caused eternal humiliation to the devil and his followers. He “disarmed the rulers and authorities [in the spiritual realm] and put them to open shame” (Colossians 2.15). Because Satan is defeated, our spiritual debt of sin is now cancelled when we accept Jesus’ lordship. Instead of simply spending his time addressing the surface problems of the world (poverty, disease, etc.), Jesus attacked the root cause of all suffering: sin and the one who brought it to Earth. This was precisely what God promised to do at the very beginning of Scripture after Adam and his wife committed the first sin. In speaking of the impending battle that would play out through the rest of time, God prophesied that a descendant of Eve would “bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3.14). Now, ever since his resurrection from death, Jesus has been sitting at the right hand of God, reigning as King and putting all his enemies under his feet (Hebrews 1.3).

Who is Jesus in your life? Is he simply a famous historical figure with his own particular spin on proper religious life? Or do you recognize him as the person he truly is: the conquering King of the universe, full of grace for his downtrodden creation? Have you surrendered yourself completely to this King?

~Nathan