Jesus grew up in a backwater village, apprenticed as a carpenter, and then launched into a career as a traveling teacher, dazzling crowds with his words and a few miraculous healings, frightening the authorities enough that they killed him - and somehow those who knew him swore there was some deeper dimension, and spoke of him as "Lord" (the term Jews reverentially reserved for their God), worshipped him, and went so far as to get themselves jailed or executed for him.
Was Jesus God? or just a man? Half and half? Both? For centuries, theologians scrambled to devise formulas and theories to understand who Jesus was (and is) - and of course no one can be reduced to mere definition. The creeds proclaimed Jesus as "fully human, fully divine" (or as Cyril of Alexandria phrased it, "perfect in godhead and perfect in manhood") - the only conclusion they could draw from the Gospel story that told of a man like every other human being, yet palpably different (Hebrews 4:15); people who knew him believed they had seen God (John 14:8-9).
If the notion of a man somehow being divine seems far-fetched, you are not the first to harbor such questions. All theologians have understood that we are talking paradox here, the impossible possibility. Jesus was not somehow radioactive, equipped with stealth technology. The mystery is a scandal: in this person who was nursed as an infant, who perspired, bled, laughed and wept, God is manifest. But why? Saints like Athanasius and Anselm argued that only God can save us, but it is our humanity that has to be saved - so God's solution to our problem was to be genuinely present, to embrace our morality, our suffering, and even our death. Had Jesus stayed dead, he would be merely a mortal - but because he was raised, with all he had suffered, not only do we now understand God fully, but we understand our own humanity, and our own destiny fully. Who am I? and why am I here? and how should I live to be close to God? Get close to Jesus and you will have the answers.
Jesus was not God dressed up as a person; even his his suffering was not utterly alien to God, a temporary charade to lure us toward God. Rather, in the eyes of the suffering Jesus we see clearly into the heart of God, which is utter, total, self-giving love. Without Jesus, we would think abstractly of God as infinite, invisible, or omnipotent - but as Jürgen Moltmann reminds us, "Omnipotence can never be loved; it can only be feared." God would not strike fear into us, so he became small (choosing to limit his omni-grandeur) and entered our blessed but fragile realm, so we might love God freely instead of cowering in terror. Barbara Brown Taylor put it beautifully: "His name is Emmanuel - the God who is with us - who is made out of the same stuff we are and who is made out of the same stuff God is and who will not let either of us go."
James
james@mpumc.org
Coming up:
eBibleQuestions31 - Were there women disciples?
eBibleQuestions32 - How are we saved? By faith? Deeds? Grace?
eBibleQuestions33 - Are the Jews saved?
eBibleQuestions34 - When will Jesus return?
The full eBibleQuestions series may be viewed online by clicking here.
