Who Is This Man?预览

He is the Son of God, and he reveals his Father.

Jesus consistently called God his Father. Naturally, that makes him God’s Son. But let’s set aside our Christian theology for a moment and put ourselves in the shoes of those who encountered Jesus during his earthly lifetime, and came to wonder: Who is this who claims to be the Son of God? When Christians point out the significance of Jesus using this title, our Muslim friends are fond of responding that “God has sons by the tons” in the Bible. And yes, in some sense, all believers are said to be children of God; Jesus told his disciples to pray, “Our Father,” and many people and groups in the Bible are said to be “sons of God.” But Jesus claimed to be a whole lot more than just a son of God. He said he was God’s “one and only” Son (John 3:16, 18). He’s the only Son “who comes from above [and] is above all (John 3:31). He’s the only one who truly knows the Father.

And he doesn’t just know the Father; he shares in the Father’s honor and glory. He said he would come “in his glory and that of the Father and the holy angels” (Luke 9:26), and that people should “honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:17).

It’s plain common sense for us not to consider ourselves equal with God. To make such a claim would be utter madness. But even though Jesus existed in the form of God, the apostle Paul tells us, he “did not consider equality with God something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by . . . taking on the likeness of humanity” (Philippians 2:6-7). Still, Jesus proclaimed that God had given him “all judgment” (John 5:22) and “authority over all people (John 17:2). When he used that authority to heal people on the Sabbath, he said he was working just like his Father was working (John 5:19). That claim had the religious leaders trying to kill him for blasphemy. Unsurprisingly, they also wanted to kill him when he said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

The things that Jesus said, C. S. Lewis rightly pointed out, would make him a lunatic if they weren’t absolutely true. There’s no middle ground. But if they are true, it means that Jesus gives us unique access to God. If we know him, Jesus said, we will also know his Father (John 14:7). If we’re unsure what God is like, we can find a perfectly focused picture in Jesus. And what a compelling picture of love, kindness, forgiveness, humility.