I don’t ask myself this question often enough. Or truly ponder what it really means. I would imagine a lot of people are the same way. As professing Christians, we would probably hope that we would say, “I know who Jesus is! He’s exactly who He claims to be! He’s God incarnate and the Savior of the world, and so that’s who He is to me!”
If you are that on fire with your faith that you can truly proclaim and believe that with absolute certainty 100 percent of the time, congratulations. You are far closer to God than many of us. Myself included. I envy you in the best way possible.
But for those of us who doubt, struggle and wrestle with our faith, I think genuinely asking ourselves this question, is the best possible place for those of us who are observing Lent, to begin trying to get closer to Jesus. To me, the giving up of certain foods or sweets on Ash Wednesday, and every Friday isn’t as important as growing closer to Him in prayer, and growing in knowledge of just who He is.
Sure, we should aim to cut off those things which distract us from Him, and we should realize how dependent we are upon Him for everything. But spending time with Him this morning and honestly contemplating who He is, was far more important than making sure I was focused on avoiding social media.
When we simply look at Lent as a list of things to give up or avoid, I believe we miss out on the opportunity to truly get closer to Jesus. We become legalistic like the Pharisees, and we measure everything by how well we either do one thing, or how often we avoid something else. That’s not a relationship with God. Sure, in their eyes, the religious leaders thought they had kept His Law. But they weren’t truly growing closer to Him. Not in the least.
Just who is He?
But when it comes to who Jesus is, I am sure everyone’s answers would be different as to who they think He is to them. But when I first asked myself this question, I began writing down who Jesus is to me, and I wrote as many answers as I could think of that seemed to fit how I see Him.
Wise man. Friend. Teacher. Brother. Lord. The Sacrificial Lamb. The Redeemer. The Provider. The Good Shepherd. The one who can carry all my burdens. A mysterious man who I will never fully understand. Fully human and fully God. The Divine Physician.
As I came up with my answers after listening to John 7 and John 8, I actually felt myself getting emotional. Especially as I wrote “Friend.” I do not know why this is, but whenever I see or hear something related to Jesus, I either smile and chuckle (in the case of Him schooling the Pharisees in scripture, or seeing Jonathan Roumie play Him on The Chosen), cry (because I sometimes feel like He’s disappointed with me when I fail), or I feel at peace (for any one of the numerous times He comforts those who believe in Him).
But I think I felt the way I did because it always hits me that Jesus wants to be my friend, no matter where I am in my life. He is always there waiting to pick me back up after I fall. That’s one of the most comforting things I can ever feel. The only time He ever rejects us, is if we willingly want nothing to do with Him. How beautiful and downright radical is that?!
It boggles my mind when I realize not only how radical and all-encompassing Jesus’ love is for all of us, but that many people in His day who saw Him perform so many miracles, did not believe in who He is.
The supposedly “learned” people refused to believe Him. The way I took this whole exchange between Jesus and the religious leaders in John 7 and John 8, is Jesus telling them the same answer clearly, in several different ways. By the end of it, He put it as plainly as He could since they were not getting it, saying in John 8:58:
“Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!”
The Pharisees and many of the people of His day sadly rejected Him after He had said this. But another verse always gives me hope as a Christian living in a time where it is often extremely hard to see Him. I believe Jesus was referring to us in the present-day in John 20, verse 29. Here, He says something to Thomas after a post-Resurrection appearance that I have always held onto:
“Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
I often struggle to wrap my head around who Jesus is. But I have never outright refused Him. We can doubt, struggle, and often not understand Him. But as long as you keep your heart open, and your “spiritual eyes” opened, and ask Him to show Himself to you during these next 40 days and every day, He will do so. He already gave me a glimpse into who He is. It should be one of the goals of Lent to be able to answer that question for yourself. But pray on it and seek guidance in scripture.
I encourage you all to focus your minds and hearts on Jesus over these next 40 days, so we can all grow closer to Him. Jesus is always waiting for us to turn back to Him. Now’s as good a time as any!
God bless you all! 🙂
Luke's Thoughts 