The most important thing to know about Jesus is that he is God. Jesus is the God man, fully human and fully divine. In the culture today, there seems to be an attitude of well, he was a nice guy that healed people, and maybe he served as a great teacher, prophet or guru. We tend to focus on the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is human, yes, but the most important thing to know about him is that he is also Divine.
In the Gospel of John we hear in the beginning was the word. The word that grounds the intelligibility of the world and the same word that is behind all of the science of the world. That same word became flesh in Jesus Christ. We also find in the Gospel of John, before Abraham was, I Am. The I Am of Jesus echoes the I Am who I Am of Exodus 3:14 when Moses said to God “What’s your name”? In the time of Moses there were many gods, Egyptian, Greek, and Norse to name a few. All of these gods had names to define them. Moses asks “What shall I tell the people what your name is?” The answer he receives is, I Am Who I Am. We see in that statement that God cannot be defined as some thing or someone in the world. With Jesus we receive the seven I Am’s. I Am the Bread of Life, I Am the Good Shepherd, I Am the Vine, I Am the Light of the World, I Am the Door (to Heaven), I Am the Resurrection and the Life, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
What else do we know about Jesus? He has authority to forgive sins. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus heals the paralytic at Capernaum and he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Some of the bystanders and teachers of the law interpreted this as blasphemy. If you were a first century Jew you would know that only God alone can forgive sins. It would have been quite shocking to them and they begin to ask “Who is this man that can forgive sins”? This is precisely the what Mark is telling us here, that this Jesus is God.
Lets take a look at how Jesus differs from the other founders. Muhammad to his credit, never claimed to be God. Muhammad said I am a messenger of God. Moses never claimed to be divine. He received the law from God and gave it to the people. The Buddha never claimed to be divine. What he said is that he found a way to enlightenment. Then there is Jesus. He doesn’t say I found a way, he says I Am the Way. He doesn’t say, I found a truth and let me tell you about it. He says, I Am the Truth. He doesn’t say I found this new mode of life let me tell you about it. He says, I Am the Life. Those claims are the unique treasure of Christianity.
Therefore we are left with a choice. Jesus himself says you are either with me or against me. If Jesus is who he says he is, we must give our whole life to him. He is God, he is the highest good. If he is not who he says he is, he is a bad man. Either he is God, or, he is a bad man. That is where you have to decide. Either you gather with me or be scattered. Either you are with me or against me. There is the Gospel, the Gospel that is the good news about Jesus Christ. It compels on those who hear it a choice, a decision. That is one of the most important things that we know about Jesus.