Microsoft has just taken me through a process to update the password that both opens my laptop and opens my Microsoft account including Windows 10. It was a painstaking process of entering characters and codes sent by email and text. This was particularly annoying as I have only this week sent password information to my executors and the Chair of trustees of Rural Mission Solutions. I did this because a brother-in-law died without informing anyone of his password and nobody can get into his laptop!
I suspect that I probably have some twenty or so passwords on my computer covering various personal and work, to which can be added various pin numbers that relate to credit cards and entry systems. Some important applications require my fingerprints or facial recognition. All of this is to prove that I really am who I say I am.
A further dimension to my identity is who I am to various people. One person knows me as her husband. Another knows me as his foster father. Some know me as a brother or uncle. Still others know me as a pastor, or a preacher, or an author or lecturer. Some only know me as a customer. Everyone knows something about me, but each only knows me in part. No one on earth, not even my wife, knows the complete me.
Over the recent Easter period, my ministry has focused on the identity of Jesus Christ. Since we were not around at the time he walked the earth, we rely on the testimony of the four gospel writers to explain to us exactly who Jesus of Nazareth is. We know that two of these, Matthew and John, spent three years travelling with Jesus so had first-hand knowledge. Mark probably had some direct contact with Jesus, but his mother was a close follower of Jesus, and it is understood that he also gained much information from Peter. This leaves Luke, a doctor, who tells us that he made diligent enquiries to ensure he got the facts right. These four witnesses combine to provide testimony as to who exactly Jesus is. They do so in company with other witnesses so that we can be confident that Jesus was a real person, living at a real time, and in a real location.
Each presents us with a paradox. We see someone who is clearly human. But we also see someone who, in personality and performance is clearly something other. The fact that he is unique makes his identity something we cannot really get our heads around. To many who lived in the area where he had grown up he was “the carpenter’s son”, leaving them baffled by the extent of his wisdom and knowledge. In the gospel accounts, time and again his actions leave people asking, “Who is this man?”
As one of my readers you will be able to glean something about who I am. Some reading this, are related to me and know me in a different context, so will have a different view. Still others have sat under my teaching or experienced pastoral care, so will have those experiences from which they can build a picture. But if you really wanted to know me you would need to move in and follow me around for a few years. Two of the gospel writers did just that with Jesus and share their testimony with us. The other two writers pass on the testimony of others, but even this is supported from their own experiences.
Matthew is clearly concerned to present Jesus as the promised Messiah, and probably wrote with a Jewish readership in mind. Mark seems to want to present Jesus as a person of extraordinary action. From the start of his account, Luke seems keen to set his story in a specific time, and presents Jesus as Saviour, and gives us insights into Jesus’ interaction with people, and his compassion. John, who had the greatest direct contact with Jesus, introduces Jesus from start to finish in a different way. He boldly starts by presenting Jesus as divine, the creator of the world and the source of life.
It is impossible to read these four accounts, I suggest, without seeing them as honest accounts. The fact that at the time of their writing, many who had personal contact with Jesus were still alive, and that thousands of people were discovering that they could come to know Jesus through believing, with most becoming willing to risk all for his sake, and even to die rather than deny him, all adds credence to their testimony.
But none of the four hides from the fact that understanding who Jesus is was a challenge. Matthew, Mark and Luke record a journey Jesus and his disciple took to Caesarea Philippi. This was an area distinguished by idolatry. Here Jesus asks his disciples how people were identifying him. He asks, “Who do they say I am?”. He then asks them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, declaring him to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. (See Matthew 16:13-20) It is from this time that Jesus confirms his identity to his disciples and begins to explain about his forthcoming suffering and resurrection.
But the gospel writers reveal that his disciples still struggle to understand. Peter tries to instruct Jesus on what he can do! James and John, failing at that time to grasp the fact that the Son of God had humbled himself and become a servant, implore Jesus to give them special status in the kingdom. Even after his resurrection from the dead, the reality that Jesus walked out of his grave seems hard to grasp. He had to show them the physical wounds suffered on the cross, to converse with them and even to eat with them to demonstrate that he was really the same person they had followed for three years.
It is John, wo starts his gospel by presenting Jesus as divine, who includes the account of Thomas’ struggle to believe. He had not been there when the other disciples had seen the risen Jesus, examined his body, and satisfied themselves that it was indeed the same Jesus. I imagine that Thomas must have come up with possible explanations. Had they hallucinated? Was it mere wishful thinking? Was it a ghost? It is only when he meets the risen Jesus for himself and discovers that Jesus knew the evidence he sought, that he identifies Jesus as both “Lord and God”.
For me, this suggests that it is almost always our subjective engagement with Jesus that precedes our ability to identify who he is. If we try to believe intellectually and objectively, we are only likely to become confused. But when we come to him, and seek to know him, only then do we begin to identify who he really is. We will also find, like the apostle Paul, years after coming to know him we are still wanting to know him more and better.
The four witnesses present the Jesus they came to know. Each does so in the light of that personal knowledge. For two thousand years Christian men and women have also been proclaiming the Jesus they have come to know. It is down to us to share our testimony, to be his witnesses, not by reciting objective facts (though these may be useful), but by declaring our personal subjective experiences of encounter with the one who lived, died, rose again and lives today. We need to speak about the Jesus we know rather than the Jesus we know about. Believing is not about intellectual acceptance of facts, it is about contemporary and continuing experience. Only then can we accurately identify Jesus as Saviour, Friend and Lord.
Barry Osborne – 13th April 2018
I suspect that I probably have some twenty or so passwords on my computer covering various personal and work, to which can be added various pin numbers that relate to credit cards and entry systems. Some important applications require my fingerprints or facial recognition. All of this is to prove that I really am who I say I am.
A further dimension to my identity is who I am to various people. One person knows me as her husband. Another knows me as his foster father. Some know me as a brother or uncle. Still others know me as a pastor, or a preacher, or an author or lecturer. Some only know me as a customer. Everyone knows something about me, but each only knows me in part. No one on earth, not even my wife, knows the complete me.
Over the recent Easter period, my ministry has focused on the identity of Jesus Christ. Since we were not around at the time he walked the earth, we rely on the testimony of the four gospel writers to explain to us exactly who Jesus of Nazareth is. We know that two of these, Matthew and John, spent three years travelling with Jesus so had first-hand knowledge. Mark probably had some direct contact with Jesus, but his mother was a close follower of Jesus, and it is understood that he also gained much information from Peter. This leaves Luke, a doctor, who tells us that he made diligent enquiries to ensure he got the facts right. These four witnesses combine to provide testimony as to who exactly Jesus is. They do so in company with other witnesses so that we can be confident that Jesus was a real person, living at a real time, and in a real location.
Each presents us with a paradox. We see someone who is clearly human. But we also see someone who, in personality and performance is clearly something other. The fact that he is unique makes his identity something we cannot really get our heads around. To many who lived in the area where he had grown up he was “the carpenter’s son”, leaving them baffled by the extent of his wisdom and knowledge. In the gospel accounts, time and again his actions leave people asking, “Who is this man?”
As one of my readers you will be able to glean something about who I am. Some reading this, are related to me and know me in a different context, so will have a different view. Still others have sat under my teaching or experienced pastoral care, so will have those experiences from which they can build a picture. But if you really wanted to know me you would need to move in and follow me around for a few years. Two of the gospel writers did just that with Jesus and share their testimony with us. The other two writers pass on the testimony of others, but even this is supported from their own experiences.
Matthew is clearly concerned to present Jesus as the promised Messiah, and probably wrote with a Jewish readership in mind. Mark seems to want to present Jesus as a person of extraordinary action. From the start of his account, Luke seems keen to set his story in a specific time, and presents Jesus as Saviour, and gives us insights into Jesus’ interaction with people, and his compassion. John, who had the greatest direct contact with Jesus, introduces Jesus from start to finish in a different way. He boldly starts by presenting Jesus as divine, the creator of the world and the source of life.
It is impossible to read these four accounts, I suggest, without seeing them as honest accounts. The fact that at the time of their writing, many who had personal contact with Jesus were still alive, and that thousands of people were discovering that they could come to know Jesus through believing, with most becoming willing to risk all for his sake, and even to die rather than deny him, all adds credence to their testimony.
But none of the four hides from the fact that understanding who Jesus is was a challenge. Matthew, Mark and Luke record a journey Jesus and his disciple took to Caesarea Philippi. This was an area distinguished by idolatry. Here Jesus asks his disciples how people were identifying him. He asks, “Who do they say I am?”. He then asks them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, declaring him to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. (See Matthew 16:13-20) It is from this time that Jesus confirms his identity to his disciples and begins to explain about his forthcoming suffering and resurrection.
But the gospel writers reveal that his disciples still struggle to understand. Peter tries to instruct Jesus on what he can do! James and John, failing at that time to grasp the fact that the Son of God had humbled himself and become a servant, implore Jesus to give them special status in the kingdom. Even after his resurrection from the dead, the reality that Jesus walked out of his grave seems hard to grasp. He had to show them the physical wounds suffered on the cross, to converse with them and even to eat with them to demonstrate that he was really the same person they had followed for three years.
It is John, wo starts his gospel by presenting Jesus as divine, who includes the account of Thomas’ struggle to believe. He had not been there when the other disciples had seen the risen Jesus, examined his body, and satisfied themselves that it was indeed the same Jesus. I imagine that Thomas must have come up with possible explanations. Had they hallucinated? Was it mere wishful thinking? Was it a ghost? It is only when he meets the risen Jesus for himself and discovers that Jesus knew the evidence he sought, that he identifies Jesus as both “Lord and God”.
For me, this suggests that it is almost always our subjective engagement with Jesus that precedes our ability to identify who he is. If we try to believe intellectually and objectively, we are only likely to become confused. But when we come to him, and seek to know him, only then do we begin to identify who he really is. We will also find, like the apostle Paul, years after coming to know him we are still wanting to know him more and better.
The four witnesses present the Jesus they came to know. Each does so in the light of that personal knowledge. For two thousand years Christian men and women have also been proclaiming the Jesus they have come to know. It is down to us to share our testimony, to be his witnesses, not by reciting objective facts (though these may be useful), but by declaring our personal subjective experiences of encounter with the one who lived, died, rose again and lives today. We need to speak about the Jesus we know rather than the Jesus we know about. Believing is not about intellectual acceptance of facts, it is about contemporary and continuing experience. Only then can we accurately identify Jesus as Saviour, Friend and Lord.
Barry Osborne – 13th April 2018
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