Jesus once asked his followers what everyone else thought about who he was. After giving a few answers, he asked the more important question, "Who do you say that I am?"
Most of us have heard a lot about Jesus. In fact, I would say that there are few historical figures that are even close to as famous as Jesus of Nazareth. And everyone has an opinion about him.
A lot of people say that Jesus was a good teacher, the likes of Buddha, Ghandi, or Zoroaster. Maybe they missed his many statements in which he implies that he is God in the flesh. Most world religions see the need to acknowledge Jesus as some sort of prophet.
Some people use him to get behind whatever political agenda they support. Pro-war? Jesus turned over tables and drove everyone out of the temple with a whip! Anti-war? Jesus said to turn the other cheek! Socialist? Jesus told people to sell everything that they have and give it to the poor. Anti-religion? Jesus was hardest on the religious elite. Not that any of these things are necessarily false, we just need to have the complete picture.
Some people try to make Jesus into a nice cosmic golf-buddy type figure. No doubt you have seen people on TV making him out to be a stand-in for Santa Claus - just have enough faith (or a positive enough attitude) and Jesus will pay your bills and give you a big house.
Scot McKnight, in his book The Blue Parakeet, mentions that most of us come to Jesus like he is a Rorschach inkblot. In other words, we project our own personalities onto him. McKnight mentions a test which he gives to all of his university students that asks about Jesus' personality and opinions. The second part of the test asks about the student's personality and opinions. The conclusion every time is that "everyone thinks Jesus is like them and even though we like to think we are becoming more like Jesus, the reverse is probably more the case: we try to make Jesus like ourselves."
Christians and non-Christians alike we all have a tendency to project our own ideas and opinions onto Jesus. Why? Maybe so that he seems a little safer. He did demand that we take up our crosses and follow him. It is much easier to follow someone that is a lot like ourselves than someone like the real, biblical Jesus, who (though he may not be safe) is good.
See we all have this tendency to take the puzzle pieces of the Bible and fit them together in a picture that we like. The only problem is that there are often quite a few pesky little pieces that do not quite fit into the picture we want. So we throw them out. But you can't really do that, can you? If you throw out puzzle pieces, you get an incomplete picture. So lets lay all of the pieces on the table.
The vast majority of scholars, Christian or not, would agree that Jesus of Nazareth was an actual historical figure. While non-Christian scholars would deny the truth of any claims of miracles or divinity, most scholars agree that we have a pretty accurate record of Jesus' teachings and ministry in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In addition to all of that, the rest of the New Testament, written by Paul, Peter, James and John, give us a pretty good idea of what the early Christians, many of whom were eyewitnesses to Jesus, believed about Jesus. So you have all the pieces, why don't you make a picture? My challenge is to find the real Jesus and then answer his question, "Who do you say that I am?" You may not come to the same conclusion as myself, that he is the very incarnation of God and the saviour of all who would trust in him, but I have no doubt that Jesus will speak into your life.
Brandon Milan is the Associate Pastor of Youth at Thompson First Baptist Church.
