In the early days of television there
was a TV show called, “To Tell the Truth.” It was a game show in which a panel
of four celebrities questioned three contestants. The panel was given the name
and occupation of one of the contestants, and the panel had to ask questions
trying to match the occupation with the right contestant. At the end of the
show the host would ask, “Will the real [fill in the name] please stand up?
With all the different portrayals of Jesus in various books, magazines and
movies, people today might feel like asking, “Will the real Jesus please stand
up?”
In the last 30 years scholars have spent
an enormous amount of time studying Jesus of Nazareth from a purely historical
perspective, and there is a good chance that the real Jesus was not like you
imagine. On one end of the spectrum there is the Jesus of popular Evangelical
Christianity. Some Evangelicals seem to think of Jesus as their “co-pilot” or
buddy, the epitome of understanding and tolerance. They often treat him as if
he were a heavenly Santa Clause who exists solely to grant their wishes. “Sweet
Jesus” or “Beautiful One” are words sometimes sung in worship of him.
The real Jesus was much more down to
earth. He was an itinerant Jewish prophet, which meant that he and his
disciples traveled from town to town along dirty, dusty, and sometimes muddy
roads. Bathing was a luxury that Jesus and his disciples probably rarely
enjoyed by today’s standards, and they almost certainly did not shave or brush
their teeth. They were often dirty, sweaty, and stinky. It is unlikely that
“sweet” or “beautiful” were among the first words that came to mind when
encountering Jesus on one of those roads. In other words, the image of a nicely
groomed and squeaky clean Jesus is the stuff of pious imagination.
On the other end of the spectrum, the
“historical Jesus” proposed by many critical scholars is no less imagination.
Albert Schweitzer[1]
recognized long ago that many Jesus scholars simply re-imagine Jesus in their
own image. That hasn’t changed since Schweitzer’s time. Modern scholars with a
cynical bent often imagine a cynical Jesus. Those with mystical leanings
imagine a mystical Jesus. Angry or activist scholars may imagine Jesus as a
revolutionary or zealot. What many of these scholars have in common is that
they approach the earliest sources seeking to find evidence to support their own
view. Then they come up with clever ways to explain away all the evidence that undermines
their view. As a result, we have numerous conflicting theories about what the
historical Jesus was like. Readers may want to cry out, “Will the real Jesus
please stand up?”
Suppose, however, we just allowed the earliest
historical sources to speak for themselves.[2]
The following broad picture would emerge: Jesus was an itinerant Jewish
preacher / prophet—on this virtually all scholars agree. Jewish prophets, like
Elijah or Isaiah, for example, were known for calling people to turn from their
sins back to God, and Jesus was no different in this respect. Among the sins he
specifically condemned were “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.”[3]
In Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount” he even addressed sinful attitudes like hypocrisy,
self-righteousness, lust, hatred and refusal to forgive others.[4]
Jesus was generally known for his
kindness and compassion but many people are unaware of the fact that he was
also a fiery preacher of judgment. He called religious leaders of his day
“whitewashed tombs,” “snakes,” “hypocrites” and “sons of hell!”[5]
In fact, he condemned his entire generation saying that hell would be worse for
them than for Sodom and Gomorrah since “From everyone who has been given much,
much will be demanded.”[6]
Two of our earliest sources, therefore, began their story of Jesus’ public
ministry with Jesus calling his generation to repentance.”[7]
There have undoubtedly been many fiery
preachers, however, who have been lost to history. Among the things that made
Jesus so memorable were the shocking claims that led to his death. In fact, because
of these claims, Jesus was accused by Jewish authorities of blasphemy and was
turned over to the Romans on charges of sedition![8]
According to our earliest sources, the
blasphemy charges came from the fact that Jesus’ words and actions implied that
he thought of himself as nothing less than the embodiment of God! For example
in one source, Jesus is said to have claimed God as his Father saying “I and my
Father are one” and “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”[9]
That Jesus actually held this view is collaborated in other sources in which he
is said to have claimed things for himself that in his culture were only
believed to be true of God. For example, he claimed to be able to grant
forgiveness of sin,[10]
and that he was “lord” of the Sabbath Day.[11]
He claimed that he would one day judge the living and the dead at the final
judgment.[12] The
Jews in Jesus’ culture believed these things were only true of God. That Jesus’
contemporaries understood exactly what he was claiming is clear from the fact
that on more than one occasion they unsuccessfully attempted to kill him for
blasphemy because, in their words, “you, a mere man, claim to be God.”[13]
In fact, the religious leaders charged him with blasphemy at his trial.
Of course the Romans who ruled the
country would care nothing about Jewish religious concerns of blasphemy so the
religious leaders needed something that would get the attention of the Roman
governor. Instead of charging Jesus with blasphemy, therefore, they sent him to
the governor on charges of sedition. Jewish people in Jesus’ time were
expecting a Messiah or Christ (a “king of kings”) to deliver them from their
oppressive Roman overlords. Since the Romans would probably have imprisoned or
executed anyone publicly claiming to be a Messiah, Jesus was careful about how
he approached this topic in public—but that is precisely who he claimed to be during
his trials.[14]
The Jewish leadership, therefore, sent him to the Roman governor on charges of
sedition, i.e. for claiming to be King of the Jews. The Roman governor ordered
that Jesus be tortured to death by nailing him alive to a cross.
We might have expected that this would
be the end of the story. After all, there was nothing out of the ordinary about
the crucifixion of Jewish “trouble-makers”—literally thousands of Jews were
crucified in the first century. More importantly, others had also claimed to be
messiahs but when they were executed their movements always died with them. That
is because many Jewish people thought the messiah would deliver Israel from
foreign rule. It was simply assumed that an executed “messiah” could not
possibly have been the real deal.
In Jesus’ case, however, not only did
his followers continue to believe even after his death, but the Jesus’ movement
actually grew significantly! In fact, these followers even began worshipping
Jesus—something truly surprising in a monotheistic culture that believed in
only one God!
All of this raises the historical question
of why anyone would continue to believe in, much less worship, an apparently
failed messiah who had been crucified. Crucifixion, after all, was considered a
very shameful way to die so getting someone to believe in a crucified messiah
would be a huge obstacle, not to mention a terrible marketing strategy!
It is not surprising, therefore, that
most people did not believe in Jesus. His enemies thought he was
blasphemer or demon-possessed or even crazy—which is exactly what one might
expect of someone who made the kind of claims about himself that Jesus
reportedly made. In other words, the story makes sense historically.
Those who continued to believe in Jesus
after his death did so for several reasons. First, they were convinced that
Jesus had done phenomenal signs and wonders. There are no ancient records of
anyone denying that Jesus had done amazing wonders. His enemies claimed that his
miracles were magic tricks or that he did them by the power of Satan. His
followers countered that no one had ever done the kinds of amazing things Jesus
had done!
Second, Jesus’ earliest followers
believed in Jesus because they were convinced that he had fulfilled Jewish
prophecies that had been written down hundreds of years before Jesus’ time. For
example, they believed that Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, his lineage from King
David, his miracles, and numerous events surrounding his death and burial were
all fulfillments of ancient prophecies of a coming messiah.
Finally, his followers believed in him
because they were absolutely convinced that he had come back to life after
having been dead and entombed. Our sources do not portray this as merely a
vision or a hallucination. They say Jesus’ disciples conversed with him, touched
him and even ate with him after his resurrection. Even highly skeptical
scholars generally agree that Jesus’ earliest followers were absolutely
convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead (the skeptics are quick to add,
however, that this is impossible since dead people never come back to life).
Christians later in the first century could
also point to the fact that Jesus had predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and
its temple, which actually came to pass forty years after Jesus’ death. So for
whatever reasons, Jesus’ followers were so convinced that he really was who he
claimed to be that they risked everything, including imprisonment, torture, and
even death to follow Jesus.
But what did it mean to follow a messiah
who was no longer physically with them? Did following Jesus mean growing a
beard, eating kosher food and living off the donations of the wealthy women who
had followed and supported him? Hardly! Following Jesus meant obeying his
commands. Jesus taught, “If you love me you will obey what I command.”[15]
Indeed, Jesus last recorded “commission” to his followers was to make disciples
“teaching them to obey all things I have commanded you.”
So what were some of those commands?
Jesus taught that people must repent of their sinfulness. They must love God
even more than they love to live and they must love their neighbors—and even
their enemies—as they love themselves. Jesus expected his followers to treat
others as they themselves would want to be treated. His followers were to
strive to live a lifestyle of compassion, love, generosity, forgiveness, worship
and prayer. They were to be honest, ethical, moral and merciful. They were to
encourage others, make peace and make disciples. They were to avoid sin like
the plague and to sincerely repent when they failed!
But following Jesus went deeper than
just obeying some rules. Jesus taught his disciples that love for God and his
kingdom was to be their highest priority. Jesus taught that God’s kingdom was
even more important than their closest relatives and loved ones. On this much,
even most critical scholars agree. What many critics miss, however, is that
Jesus claimed to be the king of that kingdom. Putting the kingdom first, meant
putting the King first—and Jesus and his followers believed that Jesus was that
King.
With teaching like this, it is no wonder
that Jesus’ enemies thought he was crazy and it is no wonder that the Romans
crucified him for sedition. It is also no wonder that those who believed in him
would lay down their lives for him and await his promised return. Again, the story
makes perfect sense historically.
But there is more. Jesus taught that
unless people’s righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees they
would not enter the kingdom of God. That was difficult for most of Jesus’
contemporaries to comprehend because Pharisees were respected religious leaders
who strived to keep all the rules—and some were apparently quite proud of it as
they self-righteously looked down their noses at others!
For example, Jesus once told a story
about a Pharisee and a tax collector who went to the temple to pray. In those
days people looked up to Pharisees but they hated tax collectors who were hired
to collect taxes for the Roman occupiers. In Jesus’ story the Pharisee bragged
about fasting twice a week and giving money to the poor. He thanked God that he
was not like that sinful tax collector. The tax collector, on the other hand,
beat his chest in remorse crying “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Surprisingly,
Jesus said it was the tax collector who was declared right with God and not the
Pharisee![16]
The moral of Jesus’ story is that those who self-righteously come to God
thinking they are good enough for God—are not good enough, and will not enter
God’s kingdom. Jesus taught that those who are “justified” or declared to be in
right standing with God are those who come to God humbly confessing their sin
and who follow Jesus in faith.
People often misunderstand the nature of
this faith. The faith of which Jesus spoke was more than just mental agreement
with some doctrines or dogmas. Faith involves the disposition or attitude of
the heart. One of the early sources about Jesus contains a story of how Jesus
was sharing a meal with a group of religious leaders when suddenly a woman came
in. The woman was crying. Since she was described as a sinner in the story (four
times!),[17]and
since no other reason for the tears were given, and since the ultimate result was
forgiveness of her sins, readers are led to believe that the woman was
sorrowfully repentant for her sin. The woman ignored the religious leaders and
went straight to Jesus. Showing remarkable humility and devotion, she got down
on her knees as she kissed Jesus’ feet, anointed them with ointment and wiped
them with her hair.
The host, a Pharisee named Simon, was
indignant: If Jesus were a prophet, surely he would know this woman was a
sinner and he wouldn’t allow her to touch him! Jesus pointed out that when he
had come in to Simon’s house, Simon had not even extended the basic courtesies
of hospitality to Jesus, whereas this woman had wet Jesus’ feet with her tears,
wiped them with her hair and anointed them with oil. Jesus said, “Therefore I
tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much.” Then he
told the woman that her faith had saved her.[18]
But wait! What faith? Nothing in this
story said anything about faith.
The story leads readers to understand
that this woman’s sorrow or repentance over her sin coupled with her loving
devotion to Jesus is the very definition of the kind of faith necessary to
enter the kingdom about which Jesus had preached so often. The actions of the
woman were outward expressions of a heart of faith. The concept of faith, therefore,
is very simple. It is about a relationship in which we—like the woman in the
story—respond to Jesus in genuine repentance for our sin and with a heart of
loving devotion to Jesus.
Like salt, faith is very simple. But just
as a simple substance like salt can be broken down into the elements from which
it is composed, so also saving faith can be analyzed and broken down into
parts.
First, saving faith includes repentance.
Repentance is a “no excuses” attitude that involves coming to grips with the
fact that our sin is not just a mistake, or the result of our environment, or
someone else’s fault. Repentance involves a humble and sorrowful
acknowledgement that we have willfully sinned against a holy God, combined with
a desire to live a life that pleases God.
Second, saving faith involves
recognition that our sin has destroyed our relationship with God and no amount
of good deeds on our part will ever make it right. If we are going to be saved
from the wrath of God at the final judgment, about which Jesus warned, it will
only be by God’s mercy and grace. Like the story of the Pharisee in the temple,
as long as we think we are good enough for God, we will not enter God’s
kingdom.
Third, Jesus believed that his death
would bring about forgiveness of sins for his followers.[19]
Jesus and his followers seemed to believe that Jesus was fulfilling an ancient
Jewish prophecy—written hundreds of years before Jesus’ time—about a “servant”
of God who would be “pierced for our transgressions” or sin, and whose death would
“justify many.”[20] Faith
involves recognition that Jesus’ death on that cross was not just Roman cruelty
but was the “ransom”[21]
to pay the penalty for our sin so we could be “justified” or declared right
with God.
Finally, faith involves a heart response
of loving devotion to Jesus as the only one who can fix our broken relationship
with God. This “love” is not some kind of gushy sentimentalism that imagines us
snuggling up in Jesus’ lap or some such nonsense. It is more like the undying devotion
a soldier might have toward a respected general or leader—a devotion that would
motivate the soldier to willingly follow that commander anywhere, even into the
heat of battle. This kind of faith involves swearing allegiance, so to speak, to
Jesus as the King and highest authority in our life.
This faith can be expressed in a simple
prayer: “Lord Jesus, I have sinned
against you in thoughts, words, actions and even attitudes. I don’t want to
grieve you anymore. Please forgive me of my sin. Come into my life, be my King,
change me and make me the kind of person you want me to be.”
Just mouthing the words to a prayer
doesn’t save anyone, of course, but if this prayer sincerely expresses the
attitude of your heart, the Bible says your sins have been forgiven, you have been
“justified” or declared right with God and you are now part of the kingdom of
God. As the apostle Paul once wrote, “Therefore there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.”[22]
So what’s next?
First, find a Bible-believing church.
You need to be associated with other believers to grow in your faith. Let the
pastor know you are a new Christian and want to grow.
Second, ask your new pastor to baptize
you. We don’t get baptized in order to be saved—the only thing required for
salvation is faith, but the idea of an unbaptized Christian would have been
unthinkable to the earliest Christians. Baptism is the initial outward
expression of your faith and a public indication that you are serious about
your commitment to Christ.
Third, start developing a life of
prayer. Prayer is not nearly as complicated as many people make it out to be.
Prayer is just talking to God like you would talk to a friend. You don’t need
to use special religious language. You don’t even need to talk out loud. Just
talk. You can talk to God anytime, anyplace, about anything.
Forth, start reading the earliest
sources about Jesus for yourself. You’ll find most of them conveniently
collected in the New Testament of the Bible. If you get a good “study Bible”
the footnotes will help you better understand what you are reading. Your new
pastor can recommend a good study Bible.
Finally, as you read your Bible strive
to put into practice what you learn about living in obedience to Jesus the King.[23]
We don’t strive to please God in order to be saved. We strive to please God in
gratitude and loving response to his saving grace.
[1]
1875-1965.
[2]
Nearly all scholars agree that the earliest sources about Jesus—all written in
the first century AD when Jesus lived—are 1) the letters of the apostle Paul,
2) the Four Gospels collected in the New Testament, 3) a lost Gospel we now
call Q, though some scholars doubt this ever existed 4) other letters collected in the New
Testament, 5) two short blurbs written by the Jewish historian, Josephus and 5)
the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians. Nearly all scholars agree that all of the
so-called “lost gospels” come from at least 100 to 400 years after Jesus’ time
and are of little to no value in reconstructing the life of the historical
Jesus.
[3] Mark 7:21-22.
[4] Matthew 5:1-7:28.
[5] Matthew 23.
[6] Matthew 10: 15; Luke 12:48.
[7] Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17.
[8]
Mark 14:64; Luke 23:2-3.
[9] John 10:10; John 14:9.
[10] Mark 2:1-12.
[11] Mark 2:23-28.
[12] Matthew 25:31-46.
[13] John 10:33
[14] Mark 14:61-62; Luke 23:3.
[15] John 14:15.
[16] Luke 18:9-14.
[17] Luke 7:37; 39; 47, 48.
[18] Luke 7:36-50.
[19]
Mark 10:45; Matthew 26:26-29
[20]
Isaiah 53
[21] Mark 10:45
[22]
Romans 8:1.
[23]
Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; Hebrews 3:20-21.
