Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other
teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.[1]
There is salvation in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be
saved.[2]
God, after He spoke long ago
to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last
days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through
whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact
representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high,[3]
Therefore, since we have so
great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every
encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author
and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.[4]
"Behold, the Man!"[5]
Much
has been written on the phrase “Behold the Man”, some better than others. My
choice to use the phrase has nothing to do with what others have written. To me
the phrase is a clarion call, to see, to hear, and to follow, Jesus the man,
who was God’s Son. As Pilate uttered the words "Behold,
the Man!” God’s
Son stood silently; condemned by the religious elite, forsaken by those he came
to save. The scene, not unlike a wounded lion surrounded by a pack of mangy
curs, snarling, snapping and frothing at the mouth, cowardly dogs waiting for
life to ebb before moving in for the kill. Priests, and members of the
Sanhedrin, together conspired against the Son of God. Jesus stood before all as
the most abject and pitiful of men. But, there was no pity in the hearts his
accusers, only jealous hatred. The parable Jesus told of the tenants recorded
in Matthew, was understood by his adversaries; “When
the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he
was speaking about them.”[6] Instead of changing their
ways, they killed him. God’s representative on earth, Jesus the man, was and
is, the only path leading to God. There is no way to circumvent Jesus, his is
the only way leading to God. Religious bodies which claim access to God, but do
not accept Jesus as the one and only Saviour, delude themselves and defraud
their followers. Any Church or religion
that minimizes Jesus, or claims to have access to God without going through
Jesus is idolatrous and godless. The scriptures are replete with statements
saying that Jesus is the only way to God and eternal life. “The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see
life, but must endure God's wrath.”[7]
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.[8]
As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world.[9]
You are the light of the
world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts
it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in
the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.[10]
While
Jesus was in the world he was the light, the heavenly light that illuminated
the path to God. Jesus told his disciples they were the light of the world. The
disciples were commissioned to take the word throughout the world at that time.
Paul wrote to the Philippians, “…be blameless and innocent,
children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.”[11] As the apostles taught
people about Jesus, they passed on the torch so that each believer became a
light of influence in his or her environment. That torch has been passed on to
all believers. The light of Jesus shines from his disciples in every age, a
light in darkness.
Beloved, let us love one
another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows
God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the
love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into
the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.[12]
“I have made your
name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you
loved me may be in them, and I in them.”[13]
God’s
love was revealed in Jesus. The love of the Father passed through the Son to
his disciples; his disciples were to demonstrate God’s love in their lives. “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved
you.”[14] Those with whom the apostles
shared the gospel were to practice God’s love in their lives. God’s love flowed
through Jesus to the first disciples, from the disciples to people around them.
Disciples of Jesus have a duty to reflect the Master’s love. I don’t believe
that it is an accident that Jesus is the only path to God. As Jesus said in his
conversation of the shepherd and the sheep, “I
am the door; if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved…” It abundantly evident the
Jesus lived as an ambassador for his Father. As
disciples of Jesus, believers have a similar responsibility to represent
Jesus in their lives and actions.
You are our letter, written
in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a
letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of
the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.[15]
Jesus
was God’s living message, communicating God’s love and grace. All believers
take upon themselves the attitude of Jesus as their own. As Jesus represented
his Lord, we represent Jesus. When we are witnesses of the love of Jesus, and
our behaviour draws attention to him, we are living in him and he is living in
us. Our lives become the message that other people see and hear. Whether you
are involved in church or not, you are responsible for the message that emanates
from you. We are to let the love of Jesus be our life’s prime message.
Icons also lift up our minds from
earthly things to the heavenly. St. John of Damascus wrote, "we
are led by perceptible Icons to the contemplation of the divine and
spiritual". And by keeping their memory before us through the Icons,
we are also inspired to imitate the holiness of those therein depicted.[16]
I
understand that icons are very important to Orthodox Christians, but I cannot
accept that they are anything other than idolatry. I read that to Orthodox
believers there is a difference between veneration and worship, but once again
it is idolatry in the guise of reverence. It is written that Hezekiah
…did right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and
broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in
pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of
Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.[17]
Nehushtan,
meaning “the brass thing”.[18] The Orthodox Information
Center suggests that a primary reason for icons is to teach the illiterate and
children. That is a faulty reason. “…faith comes from what is
heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” God has given the
responsibility of spiritual education of children to the father[19]. There is no excuse for
veneration of icons no matter what they are, or what purpose is used to justify
them. Jesus is the message from God –the only message. Faith in God is an
absolute requirement, not a second hand acceptance of God through veneration of
artifacts or dead people. There is something wrong with “faith” if it has to be
initiated or maintained by artificial props. The veneration of icons would
suggest that the teaching of James ought to be modified to include icons; faith
and action are not enough. There were many illiterate people and children when
James wrote, and he did not recommend acceptance of icons. I believe that
anything used as a prop for lagging faith, or anything we offer veneration
other than Jesus is absolutely wrong. Salvation is through believing in Jesus. There
is no need for anything else, God sent Jesus as his message. “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”[20] Faith based on artifacts and
icons is false faith, it demeans the risen Lord. Why focus on dead things and
people, when we are called to honour the living Son of God.
It is
difficult for our finite minds to relate to the infinite God. It just might be
that Jesus serves as the link between humans and God, because of his humanity.
He is the Saviour, he is the Mediator, he is the Advocate, and while on earth, he
was human. The acceptance of the humanity of Jesus cannot be underestimated.
Jesus is the most important link we have to God.
Let the same mind be in you
that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the
form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he
humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a
cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is
above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[21]
We glorify God by being disciples of Jesus. We
can relate to Jesus the person, because he was human like we are. The Word, the
message of God lived as a person, and shared our human traits. Through the
written word we can hear Jesus speak, we can reflect on how he interacted with
others, and we can experience his love. And, Jesus set the pattern for
disciples to follow.
Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be
satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time,
Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.[22]
The last phrase of Jesus’ answer made it clear
that seeing him was the same as seeing the Father. The scripture says, “He is the radiance of His glory and the
exact representation of His nature…”[23]
The pattern for disciples is to project the nature and likeness of Jesus through
our lives. There’s nothing wrong in going to church, but that’s not what this
means. Our everyday lives have to be where this takes place, at home, at work,
or at play. There is not a moment of the day when we can step back from our
duty to represent Jesus. Paul speaks to the change that takes place when people
are in Christ, “From now on,
therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view…”[24] As
a disciple of Jesus we live as a new person. Living for Jesus is not the same
as being religious, it has nothing to do with how often we go to church, or how
many scriptures we have memorized. Living for Jesus isn’t being a missionary,
or a preacher. Living for Jesus doesn’t preclude the fore mentioned. Those are
aspects and choices of our personal lives, not to be confused with living the
message. We get a hint of what this means from Jesus teaching;
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day
many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast
out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will
declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'[25]
As the function of the synagogue was to
support people to live as God wanted them to, the role of the church is to
support the people of God to live the message of Jesus. Commitment to a church
or a religion is not what God wants, it’s your life that is required. A total
commitment to God through Jesus. A life seen by the world as the message of God
through Jesus.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes
in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the
Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be
saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do
not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name
of the only Son of God.[26]
The world has become a dark place; now is the
time for followers of Jesus to shine. It is not our place to condemn the world,
but to be a glimmer of hope in our communities, a gentle light radiating God’s
love through Jesus. This is a lifestyle not a religion. The purpose of church
fellowship is to encourage believers as they live each day for Jesus. As
followers of Jesus our duty and privilege is to honour the Saviour. Jesus has
to be Lord of our lives. We have to grow and mature as disciples to the point
where we can echo Paul’s words, “…I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard
what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”[27] I would advocate a generic church.
Titles and names are exclusive and divisive. There is only one name by which we
can be saved –Jesus. As citizens of the kingdom we have but one king –Jesus. As
the redeemed we have but one Saviour –Jesus.
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing you may have life in His name.[28]
Living as a representative of Jesus has to be our
priority. It doesn’t come easy or without some learning. We have many
conflicting plans and a number of ideas how best to serve Jesus: There is
church and its demands. There is employment and everything it requires, and
there is home life and family, leisure time and recreation all requiring our attention.
We must have balance in our lives. Jesus doesn’t call us to give up these
things. He requires that whatever we do, we do to his glory[29].
The difficulty that we face is that Jesus hasn’t given us a list of do’s and
don’ts –he wants us to assume his nature. Our lives are to become his personal
message. My understanding of scripture leads me to conclude that Jesus is more
important than any cause, he is more important than church, and he has to be
the most important person to each of us. We can’t accept Jesus’ divinity without
accepting his humanity. And, it is his humanity we look to, to shape our lives.
We need to be able to hear his voice in scripture, to acknowledge his role as
leader. We have to accept him as our master, and learn from him. All scripture centers
on Jesus. The gospels give an up close and personal view of Jesus as a man, as
well as, the Son of God. Since we are to imitate Jesus, and represent him, we
have to know him. We need to become familiar with Jesus –the way he approached
his mission, and the way he communicated God’s word, so that we can become like
him.
