WHO IS JESUS?

"It would be hard to underestimate the significance of Jesus. No other person has had a greater historical impact. Even those who aren't Christians acknowledge this: Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet. Hindus consider him a holy teacher. Even many atheists are very willing to say they admire Jesus; for example, Christopher Hitchens once said he respects "the virtue of his teachings."

"Yet a common skeptical remark you hear is that we can't really know anything about who Jesus actually was. He was probably a great guy, but the early Christians invented so many stories about him that we have no way of separating what's true in the Bible from what's false. Most skeptics don't realize, however, that academic historians take Jesus very seriously. We're talking historians, not theologians; not least, because we have so many historical sources for Jesus. Many people don't realize the New Testament is a collection of books, for example, and represents multiple sources about Jesus. Many are very early—for example, Paul's letters date to the 40s and 50s AD and some of the material he quotes is dated even earlier, to within months of Jesus's death . . . 

"It's simply not the case, in other words, that Jesus's life was invented decades after his death by well meaning Christians. And that means we are forced to take the life of Jesus very seriously—at the very least, we need to read the gospels as we would other ancient literature and weigh them accordingly.

"And that brings us face to face with Jesus himself: a Jesus who made astonishing claims about himself. C S Lewis once famously said that Jesus left us only three options. Either he was mad—utterly insane. Or he was bad—a cynical liar. Or else Jesus was who he claimed to be. Whilst this threefold choice may slightly over simplify things, the broad thrust is right. Jesus forces all of us to answer the same question he asked Peter in the Gospels: "Who do you say I am?" One thing is certain: Jesus has left a powerful footprint on history, too great to ignore. "Who do you say that I am?" The answer each of us gives to that question matters profoundly."  Andy Bannister, Slice of Infinity

A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE

"What does distinguish the Christian from the world is the absence of any anxiety, which might have come as a result of the loss of something he has managed or even God's denial of something he wants. Why? Because the Christian's treasure is not on earth. The world & its temporal toys do not possess him. He is prayerful, but not the least bit anxious about the tremendous uncertainly facing our national & world economy." Ron Blue, Men's Devotional Bible

O GOD OF GOD, O LIGHT OF LIGHT *

* LW #83, Sts. 1 & 4

We are still in the season of Epiphany, so here is another Epiphany hymn.

"O God of God O Light of light, O Prince of Peace & King of kings:  To You in heaven's glory bright The song of praise forever rings. To Him who shares the Father's throne, The Lamb once slain but raised again, Be all the glory He has won, All thanks & praise! Amen, amen.

"Then raise to Christ a mighty song, And shout His name, His glories tell! Sing, heav'nly host, your praise prolong, And all on earth, your anthems swell! All hail, O Lamb for sinners slain! Forever let the song ascend! All hail, O Lamb enthroned to reign! All hail, all hail! Amen, amen."