Have you ever tried to answer the simple question of "Who is Jesus?" It's not as easy as you think. Read on as NCBC's Children's Ministry Director Loretta Bushlack recounts all the amazing aspects of who this amazing Son of the Living God really is... and more.
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I attended a Bible study last night while visiting our son's church in the Denver area. We spent the evening trying to answer this one simple question: Who is Jesus? It's humbling how such a simple question can be so difficult to answer.
When Jesus asked His own disciples this question, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter gave an A+ answer: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
Technically correct. But not necessarily accessible to a friend or co-worker who is new to Jesus or religion or the Bible. And not automatically meaningful to any of us without a little bit of thoughtful consideration of those two phrases.
Jesus Christ. Did you grow up thinking "Christ" was sort of like Jesus' last name? Well, it's not. It's a title, Jesus, The Christ. There's so much meaning wrapped up in that powerful word. Christ means Anointed One. The One to Come: First promised in the Garden of Eden. The One we've been waiting and hoping would finally undo all the wrong that has happened because of sin. A perfect King, Priest, Prophet. Our Rescuer, Healer, Redeemer, Warrior, Lover, Friend. Bringer of Justice and Peace and Joy.
If there's a social or personal chain that needs breaking, the promised Christ would break it. If there's a deep human need, the promised Christ would fill it. Wherever sin has brought brokenness or chaos or suffering or tears, there has been this enduring word of hope-Christ-saying One day, when He comes, Our Christ, all things will be made right and new again.
Every story with a hero points to Him. But in our children's fairy tales, when we say the words, "And they all lived happily ever after..." we know that's not possible or true. No one prince or princess or Lion King or Captain America brings the kind of ultimate happy ending every heart yearns for.
No mere man can. And that is why we need that second phrase. "The Son of the Living God."
The Bible claims that God is a loving all-powerful Father who sees the earth in need of a rescuer and meets that need in the most generous and personal way imaginable. He sends His Son. God comes down, full of grace and truth. The Kingdom of God is here on earth, finally.
The perfect King and Priest and Prophet, displaying authority and power over every chain and need and chaos on earth. Disease? He's the boss of that. Demons? He's the boss of them. He's the boss of the forces of nature for crying out loud. Even the winds and the waves obey this Son of the Living God.
Yet He's tender. He stretches out His hand to the grieving, downtrodden, abandoned, oppressed, and scorned. Those are His people. He's an advocate and servant and counselor and friend.
But Jesus is determined. He sets His path toward Jerusalem and fixes His gaze on the cross and beyond. Lets Himself be betrayed, arrested, tortured, and assassinated as His ultimate act of merciful justice for this broken and battered world. Jesus so loves the world, unto death.
And He wasn't finished. Death? Yeah, He's the boss of that.
Jesus walked out of the tomb, walked right through walls, and walked among hundreds of eyewitnesses who SAW the resurrected Christ, the Son of the Living God.
He ascended into Heaven before their very eyes and is seated at the right hand of the Father to this very day. Waiting patiently for the perfect moment to return. Waiting for the final battle -- the chapter where love and justice prevail over sin and death. Waiting for the true Happily Ever After to be declared. Waiting to wipe away every single tear.
That's our Jesus.
He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
Loretta