Selfless Faith

Now, the last matter to deal with regarding if Jesus was just a “moral” man is the cross. Jesus said He would be taken by His very own people, turned over to the Gentiles to be scourged and crucified, but be raised up three days after His death. If we believe Jesus is a moral man, we must also believe everything that He said since it would be impossible for Him to lie. We must believe He endured the cross and three days after being dead, He rose from the dead; He came back to life. If we don’t believe that, then we are calling Him a liar and He would be stripped of the title of being a moral man. I cannot label a liar as a moral man. However, if we believe that He truly was a moral man, then we MUST believe He died and rose again. This leads to the question: what mere moral man has the power to die and come back from the dead three days later? Now, some may say He wasn’t really dead but once again that would show He is not a moral man because He lied when He said that He would die or that He was dead. Some religious circles go as far to say it was not Jesus on the cross, but instead Judas Iscariot. I would beg for us not to challenge the intelligence of the Jewish and Roman people in those days. They were not stupid. In addition, if Jesus, being a moral man was to let Judas take His place on a cross that was meant for Him, that would not only make Him a liar, but also a coward. He would be no better than Judas Iscariot. I cannot label a liar or a coward as a moral man either.

We are really cornered in by Jesus when it comes to who He is. His words and His actions do not leave the option for us that He is just a moral man. We either have to take Him as God or completely reject everything He ever did and said. The consequences of rejecting what He said and did will put a big empty hole on history just as big as the holes in our hearts and lives that can only be filled by the Spirit of the Living God. Many people allow their pride to have them believe a lie. We can humble ourselves and take Jesus Christ as the God who truly loves us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20), or we can stay prideful and treat Him lower than the dirt under our feet. In any event, He has not left an open door for us to classify Him as anything lower than God or nothing. There is no neutral or middle grounds.

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Now while we may not be as well versed in the Scriptures as the Jewish people were at that time, we can learn a lot from them. While people may say Jesus never made claims to be God, the Jewish people knew exactly what claims Jesus were making. They planned to kill Him over and over because of this.

John 10:31-39 continues to say:

The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

This is not the first or only instance that they attempted to kill Jesus for this reason.

John 8:56-59 reads:

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

This “I am” statement is linked with Exodus 3:13-14 when Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” The Jewish people understood EXACTLY what Jesus was referring to. He was claiming to be the Most High God in form of a mere man like you and me. Even before this particular incident, John 5:18 reads, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” There are many more examples of how well versed the Jewish people were in the scriptures and for that very reason they made attempts to kill Him.

The last example, the best example, is the reason of the crucifixion itself. John 19:5-7 reads, Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” The ONLY reason Jesus was crucified is because He claimed to be God. There is no other valid explanation for His crucifixion other than that. Who can accuse Jesus of a sin or a crime? Jesus asked that very question in John 8:46, “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?”

The Jewish people in those days knew EXACTLY what and who Jesus was claiming to be. They were not blind to the fact. Now, many years later, we have some “smart” religious leaders or some intellectual skeptics who try to challenge the Jewish interpretation of their very own scriptures. We must understand the Jewish people never had an issue with interpretation; they had an issue with belief. They knew exactly how to interpret the scriptures to know of God and that they were expecting a Messiah; however they refused to believe it was Jesus because He did not fit in according to their plans. They fully understood everything that Jesus was saying to them with their intellect; their spirits and their hearts just could not accept or believe the claims of Jesus.

This then lead to the fact that if Jesus was the most moral man, He would not be able to claim He was God, if He was in turn not God.

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Now that we have clarified the centralized purpose of the Bible is to reveal, or better yet, unveil Jesus Christ to the world, Jesus, being the most moral or law-abiding man ever, made claims that no one else can ever made (or at least can seriously make). Jesus said He was God. Immediately red flags will go up by many different religions and belief systems that will challenge this. They will say “Jesus never said He was God, and Christians just try to make it seem like He said this.” Before we even get this argument, let us go straight to the Scriptures to see this.

Mark 2:5-12 reads:

And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

This alone is enough to prove Jesus is either God or else He is NOT the most moral law-abiding citizen to ever live. The scribes asked a perfect and true question. Who can forgive sins but God? Nobody! So now if Jesus is not making a claim to be God (and if He was not truly God), then by Him telling the paralytic man to rise and walk and the man still stayed there on the ground unable to walk, then He would not be a God, which would lead to telling the man his sins are forgiven to be worthless. However, the man did rise and walk. So the same question Jesus asked the scribes, we can ask it to ourselves: “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?” When I read this for the very first time, I said it is definitely easier to say your sins are forgiven since we can’t actually see someone’s sins being forgiven. Then when I read the man rose and walk, I was in shock! If Jesus can do what we can see in the healing of a paralytic man, He can absolutely do what we can’t see. I was then lead to the conclusion that both are equally difficult to do, because if only God can forgive sin, a mere “moral” man doesn’t have the ability to do that; the same way a mere moral man does not have the ability to tell a paralytic man to rise and walk. At least, I am unable to do that myself. Now, if Jesus did not really forgive the man’s sins, He would be a liar. Since the man did rise and walk, it was proof that Jesus had the ability to forgive His sins. He did two things that ONLY God has the capability of doing: first and foremost, healing in the Spirit and then the next healing in the flesh.

If this is not enough proof or evidence for our intellect, let us also read Luke 18:18-22 and John 10-24-30.

Luke 18:18-22

A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.

John 10:24-30

The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Extracting from Luke 18:18-22, Jesus did not deny He was God but rather confirmed it by answering His question and solidifying it with a firm closing: come, follow Me. Just as much in John 10:24-30, who can give eternal life but God. Then to solidify His response to the Jews gathered around Him, He says “I and the Father are one!”

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Morality: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. Another label for Jesus is being a very (or the most) “moral” man. They will not label Him as God, but instead say He is the most moral man to ever live. Too many people are not only uneducated on the definition of morality but also on what makes a person moral.

I’ve heard people say they don’t believe in God but they strongly believe in “morality.” What in the world is that? First and foremost, morality is not a religion. The biggest question is where do we get “our” morality from? How do we know these are wrong: immorality (including sexual immorality), impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. (Galatians 5:19-21) We can say we get it from the Bible which “man” wrote but that is not true. The Bible has the laws written out that are already embedded in our hearts. Anyone who tries to force his (or her) mind to believe what his or her mind tells him or her is not true, is simply making a fool out of himself (or herself). We don’t tell a child not to lie until they actually lie. We don’t tell a child not to steal until they actually do steal. We don’t tell a child not to be greedy until they are being possessive. Why do children have to urge to hide what they have done if they don’t already know that it is wrong?

So where does our moral standards come from? Well, morality is based on the person we get it from. If we think it is wrong to lie but acceptable to have a mouth filthier than a rat’s mouth, then our morality comes from the person who taught us it is acceptable to use filthy language but not acceptable to lie. If we look to science and scientists to teach us morality, we make science our god. The shortcomings of science is that there are so many unanswered questions (not to mention the questions that are answered but have the possibility of changing this next very minute), and it also doesn’t teach us anything about what is right and what is wrong. In a sense, science only goes as far as telling you killing a person is murder, but it cannot tell you that murder is right or wrong. Science has no distinction of right and wrong, only of what something is. If we follow the morality that teaches us aggressiveness towards one set of group (whether being race, religion, gender, etc.) and not another group, we make that system of morality our god. This is the reason that Jesus cannot be labeled as just the most moral man ever. Morality is in the eye of the beholder. It would probably be better to say that Jesus is the most law-abiding citizen to ever live. However, law-abiding citizen according to who’s law? I would say the only law that truly matters: the Law of the Most High God Almighty.

Now, here is the conflict of Jesus being the most moral or law-abiding citizen and still refusing to believe Him: by not believing the things He said and did, that makes Him a liar. According to the morality or Law that He followed, He would be breaking the morality code of God. Now this might be confusing to some people who don’t know the things that Jesus said or did. They may ask, “How did Jesus lie?” I suppose this is where the majority of people miss the purpose of the Bible. It is not to teach us how to live or be “good” human beings. I think the best explanation of the centralized (if not only) purpose of the Bible is found in Revelation 1:1 which reads, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants.” Now while this verse may be specific to the Book of Revelation, I believe this is also applicable to the entire Bible in the sense that Jesus Christ is being revealed to us through His word. Another way of saying it is the “unveiling” of Jesus Christ. Not seen as much in these days, when a bride would stand at the altar, the person performing the ceremony would tell the groom to unveil his bride. In the same sense, Jesus Christ is unveiling or revealing Himself to us.

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We have heard many different descriptions of Jesus Christ. To some people, it’s even part of a curse word. When Jesus asked His disciples who people say that He is, there was a variety of different answers.

Matthew 16:13-16

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Mark 8:27-29

Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?”Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

Luke 9:18-20

And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

This is who Jesus proclaimed to be and never anything less. He did not associate Himself with those other titles people try to give Him. While we have the freedom to have whatever opinion we want about Him, saying He is anything less than the Son of God, God in the flesh, is just a wrong opinion.

One of the most common belittling opinions of Jesus Christ is He was just a “good” man. Many people don’t understand the meaning of the word good. I’ve met a few people in my life that I would consider to be good people. In the same light of being good, those people never walked on water (Matthew 14:25; Mark 6:48; John 6:19), nor turned water into wine (John 2:9), nor fed 5,000 men along with their wives and children (Matthew 14:19-21; Mark 6:41-44; Luke 9:14-17; John 6:10-11) as well as 4,000 men along with their wives and children (Matthew 15:36-38; Mark 8:6-9) on two separate occasions, nor gave sight to the blind (Mark 8:22-26; Matthew 9:27-31; John 9:1-7; Mark 10:46-52; Matthew 20:29-34; Luke 18:35-43), nor unlocked the eardrums of the deaf (Mark 7:31-37), nor cleansed lepers (Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16; Luke 17:11-19), nor restored the crippled (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26; John 5:1-8; Matthew 12:9-13; Luke 14:1-6; Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11), nor healed blood flow problems (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:43-48), and for sure, never raised people from the dead (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:40-56; John 11:43-44), or greater than all, did not come back from the dead as they promised they would, after being killed in front of many spectators at a nationwide event (Matthew 28:5-6; Mark 16:6-7; Luke 24:4-7; John 20:1-18). If Jesus was just a “good” man, then all good men should have the same ability to do the things that the Bible reports that He did. This is just a small portion of all the miracles performed by Jesus Christ within a three year ministry.

People like to classify Jesus as just being a good man, but if that were the case, that would mean He did not perform the miracles as it is reported. If that is true, then that opens a lot more problems that the world finds itself lost in, and outside the kingdom of God. For now, we’ll just stick to just one issue. If Jesus did not perform those miracles, we would have to read the Bible as if they never happened. If we did that, there would not be much to say about Jesus. In fact, He probably would not have made the pages of scriptures to be classified as a “good” man. All he would have done in His lifetime would have been to teach a few people but without any authority to prove what He was saying was true. The teachings of Jesus gave the people hope, and the life of Jesus proved that the hope He gave could be believed and trusted.

Jesus Christ: a good man? Yes indeed but so much more! His life proves it to us even until this day! Amen!

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