Who is Jesus?
Is He a king, a teacher, a first-century Rabbi who had revolutionary disciples? Is He a man whose teachings were used to subjugate a wayward Empire? No matter who the Real Jesus is or was, what remains is what is the truth in Him.
Jesus was never one to shirk responsibilities. By responsibilities, I am referring to speaking his mind and explaining thoughts maybe others did not have. He could have kept these thoughts to himself but chose to become vulnerable and share them. If we look in the Gospels, we see from the time of his Bar Mitzvah, he asked, and answered questions of the highest minds within Judaism. He was always a person, according to what has been written about Him, someone who thought deeply and held very strong opinions about what is right and wrong.
The Truth is in Jesus Christ
For me, this is where the truth in Jesus lies. I know it is a simple way to think, but for me, this is the easiest way to understand people. Look at the natural things someone does, and how that person affects others and you will ultimately see the truth of the person. I mean by this that until you understand how a person ticks, and what rubs off on others by the person, you may not be able to find the truth about who that person is.
People, who have spiritually met this Master of thought and love, have one thing in common, very strong opinions of what is right and wrong. For better or worse, the main legacy of Jesus is that you either believe in absolutes, or you do not. There is no in-between because if you’re in between you have not met this historical figure in your heart and mind. I am not speaking about people who only listen to others who have met Jesus through His teachings, writings, or emotional experience. I am speaking about people who by study, contemplation, or emotional need have connected with who Jesus was said to be.
Jesus changes the way you think
If you study the writings (the Gospels) about Him or read other books by men and women who have met Him spiritually, you will find this one common thread amongst them. They believe in absolutes and insist on them. Usually, His followers have an attitude of, you can choose to believe in these absolutes or not believe in them, it doesn’t matter because they are there. Jesus had these same strong opinions and has given them to the ones who followed.
It doesn’t matter how many times throughout the ages people have tried to force Jesus’ followers to let go of their beliefs, it has never worked yet. People do stray from strict Orthodoxy but still, hold to the basics of what Jesus stood for. In my opinion, Jesus’ lasting legacy to humanity was His uncompromising belief in who He was, and who God is. He gave these to His Disciples, and they handed them down to their Disciples, and it has been given this way for the past two thousand years, with no end in sight.
People may say God is dead, or Christianity is in decline, but if you look at the world-wide numbers of people who believe and follow Jesus’ directives and vision for life, you will see that today there are more followers of Jesus’ then there has ever been in history. This is because the truth of Jesus was an uncompromising belief is absolute truths, one He modeled so long ago.
