Lunatic, Liar or Lord

The following paragraph is a direct quote from 'Mere Christianity' by C.S. Lewis (of Narnai fame). The comments in brackets are mine.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to”.

For more details of Lewis's argument see for example http://www.existence-of-god.com/lord-liar-lunatic.html

I quoted some of the things Jesus said last day. He said “I am the way the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). This is more than a bit much if it is not true! He also made statements the Jews understood well was blasphemy (if it is not true). He said “Before Abraham was, I am”. This is a very strong claim to be the One who spoke to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13,14). The reaction of the Jews makes it very clear that we have not misinterpreted this verse, because they took up stone to stone Him (John 8:58,59).

Some have a Sunday School picture of Jesus “Gentle Jesus meek and mild, would not hurt a fly”. But He drove the money changers out of the Temple with a whip of chords (John 2:15). They deserved it, they were cheating the people! This can hardly be described as mild! His actions and sayings seem almost provocative at times (i.e. Mark 2:5-11). He breaks all their man made rules (i.e. Mark 2:23; 3:1-6). He performed signs and wonders. He knew this behaviour would get Him crucified (Matthew 20:18,19), yet He “set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). Jesus is a man's man, He shows us man as God intended man to be. He is not mild, flies beware. Jesus is a tiger at times, yet even so He is humble.

You cannot be neutral about Jesus, He has not given us that option. He tells us explicitly “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30). There is no fence for “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son" (John 3:18). The Amplified Bible translates “believes” as “cleave to, rely on, trust in”. So He is not talking about a mere intellectual agreement that He is God's Son, for from James 2:19 “Even the demons believe (that way) and tremble” (words in brackets mine)! You are either in or out, hot or cold, saved or lost, condemned or rescued!

Understanding and embracing Jesus and all He is, is important to recovery and to becoming all that we were created to be. Conversion and believing the Gospel brings us access unto the Lord of Life who heals the broken hearted (Luke 4:18-21). It starts, but does not end there. Receiving and trusting in what He says about us, will bring us into wholeness. In being vitally connected to Him we discover who we truly are, and in complete surrender we discover all we were made to be. As I said last day, we even get to like ourselves. In His embrace we are secure, for “no one can snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). In His hands we are treasured and loved and valued.

We will be exploring more of the healing power of all of this in the next few posts.