Who Was Jesus?
Good Morning Friends,
The prophetic words of Haggai seem relevant today is ways that may have even surprised Haggai. During the time of Haggai, it was a time to build up the place of worship. Leaders agreed on this point. The Temple had been neglected and people had taken wood from the old Temple to make their homes nicer. It was as if they were neglecting the love of God in favor of loving themselves. Such was the case with the leaders during the time of Jesus too. The political leaders in charge wanted to feather their own nests instead of honoring God. They cared about power. Such was the like of Herod. Still he wondered who this Jesus was. And this is the question we face too. It is about facing the needs of others while also honoring God. It is about honoring the truth of what we believe and how we might bring beauty into this world through collective acts of worship but also realize how selfish we really are. So, as we reflect on this balance of loving God and loving our neighbors we ask the only question that really matters, Who Was Jesus?
Scripture: In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.
Haggai 1:1-8 (NRSV)
Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.
Luke 9:7-9 (NRSV)
Message: There is an argument in the Church that contrasts what we owe to God with what we owe to our neighbor. Some say we do not need ornate churches with lots of stone and pipe organs and marble altars and bells and fancy stained-glass windows. It is better to spend that money on the poor and have a simple little chapel that reflects a poverty and concern for the marginalized. The argument pits the two parts of the great commandment against each other–kind of like love God or love your neighbor. But it is not an either-or proposition but an act of balance. The prophet Haggai was essentially saying to the people of Israel, “stop enriching yourselves while the temple lies in ruins!” Things were out of balance. But even after it was rebuilt, those that had seen the first Temple knew that its rebuilding was a poor copy. It brought them to tears that it fell short of that past glory. So too now that there are many beautiful, but empty places of worship, speaks to the deeper issue we must consider. What really honors and glorifies God? And to respond to this we must answer the question that was on the mind of Herod in today’s text. And how we respond to the rebuilding of the Temple that Jesus had in mind tells us what we think of Jesus. C. S. Lewis, who was a professor at Cambridge University and once an agnostic, understood this issue clearly. He writes: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse.” Friends, Christianity presents to the world an ideal character which through all the changes of the centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love. Only Jesus as both God and man has given us the incentive to practice the highest pattern of virtue. How we choose to glorify God therefor depends on who we believe Jesus to be.
Pray we contemplate the person of Jesus and the mission of God as it relates to how we worship. Pray we realize that we cannot separate the person of Jesus from the teachings of Jesus. Pray we realize that someone who lived as Jesus lived, taught as Jesus taught, and died as Jesus died could not have been a liar or a lunatic. Pray we worship in a way that acknowledges the presence of God in our lives and a belief that Jesus was all man and all God at the same time. Pray we see the true Jesus and this miracle of love spill over in our lives so others might believe in the beauty of God incarnate.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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