Mark Smith asks why Jesus is still having an impact on millions of lives today.
Jesus Christ has, arguably, had more global impact than any other person who has lived on the planet. He never wrote a book but more is written about him than anyone else. His followers constitute the largest religious grouping the world has ever known. Christianity has an estimated 2.2 billion adherents. This is growing rapidly in Asia, Africa and South America in the 21st century.
Many have an opinion about who Jesus Christ was and is. In Islam he is regarded as a messenger and prophet.
Within Judaism he is one of many false messiahs that have come and gone.
Dan Brown's fictional novel The Da Vinci Code proposed a secret marriage to Mary Magdalene. German medical missionary Albert Schweitzer, in his Quest for the Historical Jesus, portrayed Jesus as a failed apocalyptic prophet.
Bryan Bruce's documentary Jesus: The cold case claims to investigate who killed Jesus and why. He presents his version and uses consultant scholars, all of the same biased opinion, without even looking at other viewpoints.
In Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, a musical loosely based on the Gospels' account of the last week of Jesus' life, depicts him as a person with doubts and faults.
The picture in the Gospels is somewhat different, summed up in the Apostles Creed: "that Jesus Christ is God's only son, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, [died] dead and [was] buried, and [on the] third day rose again; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead ".
Many looking at this dismiss it automatically. A supernatural birth, rising from the dead, ascending into heaven, returning to judge, etc are ruled out because of their assumptions about the supernatural and their belief in metaphysical naturalism.
Richard Dawkins once claimed that perhaps the apostle Thomas (doubting Thomas) should be the patron saint for all scientists because of his scepticism concerning the resurrection of Jesus.
Surely, Dawkins realises that Thomas did believe when he saw the empirical evidence in front of him.
In our culture, there seems to be a growing openness to supernaturalism and the consideration of assertions that the apostles and others made regarding Jesus. According to the Gospels, Jesus himself made some extravagant claims. He claimed that he was God, which caused an uproar in His day and was something no other leader of a major religion ever claimed. He claimed to be the only way to the Father, which causes more of a stir in our inclusive post-modern culture. He claimed to have a kingdom that was not of this world and that people could enter that Kingdom and have eternal life through belief (faith) in Him.
These are bold claims. Are these the claims of a person who is/was somehow deluded?
At one stage, even his family thought He had lost his mind, as they didn't really comprehend His mission. Is this Jesus, the devilish deceiver the religious establishment of the day said He was?
Or is He truly, as He claimed, the Divine Son of God?
Whatever you decide, you can't just say He was a good person with some wise maxims that we should live by or entrust our lives to. If He was delusional, or a deceiver, you wouldn't entrust your life to Him, but if He is the divine Son of God, then you would be foolish not to.
According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ himself believed unequivocally in His claims, enough to be executed for them. His closet followers, who were eyewitnesses to His life and ministry, saw Him not as a false Messiah, or just a messenger or sage, a faith healer, failed apocalyptic prophet or one who was having a marriage/fling with Mary Magdalene.
They believed His claims to be true.
Most of them were martyred for that conviction. Not many die for a hoax, but people do die for what they are convinced is true.
Many have an opinion regarding Jesus, but one can't deny that Jesus, having walked on this earth, has had a major influence for 2000 years, and is still having an impact in the lives of millions globally today. Why?
• Mark Smith is pastor of Grace Church - Dunedin
