Sermon at Wonersh by John Metcalfe on May 28th 2006
Jesus – Son
of God
As we sit, let’s pray: “Lord, you are our
Messiah, the Anointed One. Speak to us
this evening, guide us, transform us, so that through
your Word we might know you better.
Amen.”
Here we go
on another new series – this is the first of 4 or 5 talks spread over the
summer in which we consider some of the names that we’ve given to Jesus. I thought I’d start with the name that makes
Him truly unique: Jesus – Son of God.
It’s
a name that’s familiar and comfortable.
But why is that? Perhaps the name
reminds us of the virgin birth – Jesus having a supernatural father? Or perhaps it make sense because we’re
familiar with teaching on the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Spirit, which suggests a Father/Son relationship? But perhaps it’s more
complicated than that.
His relationship to God. He believed that
He had a distinctively intimate relationship with God the Father.
Even more striking
is the fact that He taught His disciples to pray to God as Abba,
suggesting He could give them an intimate relationship with God unlike any they
had had before. So, several times in his letters, Paul says that
Christians pray to God as Abba, indeed the Holy Spirit prompts them to
do so, for they’ve become sons and daughters of God like Jesus, through their
relationship with Jesus. Look at the
verse that was read to us from Galatians – that’s page 1170 in the pew Bibles –
verse 6: “Because you are sons, God sent
the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba,
Father’.” (Gal. 4:6). And again in Romans – page 1135, verse 15: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes
you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom. 8:15).
Abba is also, of course, the first word of the Lord's Prayer,
which Jesus taught to His disciples (Luke 11:2). So we have to ask ourselves – what sort
of person would Jesus be if He thought He could not only save people, but The
phrase "Son of God" suggests divinity, but it didn’t in Jewish
antiquity. Angels were sometimes called sons of God (as in Gen.
6:2), but when Jews thought about a Son of God they thought of a king
anointed by God. We can see that in Psalm 2 – that’s on page 543 – it’s
perfectly clear in Psalm 2 that the discussion is about the king who’s been
anointed by the high priest, and therefore crowned as king. (Verses 2-6): "The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together
against the Lord and against His Anointed One…the Lord scoffs at them…'I have
installed my king on
In Judaism
it was believed that the king had a special relationship with God, and in fact
was adopted by God as His own child when he was crowned. What’s
especially interesting about Mark 1:11 is that the second phrase from Psalm 2,
"today I have become your Father",
is omitted, because Mark doesn’t want to suggest that Jesus was merely adopted
as God's Son at the point of His baptism.
Rather the baptism is the point where the Father confirms to the Son the
identity He’s always had, and which has now been revealed to everyone.
Jesus
certainly didn’t view His relationship to God as being like that between King
David and God. It tells us a lot about
Jesus that He prayed to God as Abba – which was an Aramaic term of
endearment which means “dearest Father”
– so in Mark 14:36, when Jesus is at Gethsemane, he says “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from
me. Yet not what I will, but what you
will.”
No Jew
prayed to God as "my dearest Father"
– God is seldom called Father in the Old Testament, and never prayed to as Abba. This
is something new … and it reveals something special about how Jesus viewed give
people alienated from God a relationship with God unlike any that human beings
had had previously? This in itself implies a lot about what Jesus
understood about himself.
We get
further insight into Jesus' view of Himself as God's Son from verses like
Matthew 11:27 (page 977): "No one
knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." The first half
isn’t too surprising – we could all say that "no one really knows me
except God my maker who knows everything." It’s the second
half that reflects Jesus' self-understanding. He sees Himself as knowing
God in a way and to a degree that others do not, and He sees Himself as the conduit
of that knowledge to other humans.
Not only
that, but Jesus gets to choose whom He reveals this intimate knowledge
to. This doesn’t in itself prove that Jesus thought of Himself as divine,
but surely it puts Jesus in a unique and unprecedented position when it comes
to knowledge of God …
and in His role as the dispenser of the knowledge of God.
It’s not a surprise that Paul, some 35 years later, would stress "For there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all"
(1 Tim.
2:5-6).
The
comedian, Billy Connolly, spoke for many when he said, 'I can't believe in
Christianity, but I think Jesus was a wonderful man.' Do we have evidence that suggests Jesus was
more than just a wonderful man and supports the Christian contention that Jesus
was and is the unique Son of God?
Let’s see
first what Jesus had to say about himself, and then we’ll look very briefly at
a few references that support what He said about himself?" Jesus didn’t go round saying, 'I am God', in so many words, yet when we
look at all he taught and claimed there’s little doubt that he was conscious of
being a man whose identity was God.
One of the
fascinating things about Jesus is that so much of his teaching centred on himself.
In effect He said to people, , 'If you want to have a relationship with God
you need to come to me' – that comes from John 14:6. It's through a relationship with Jesus that
we encounter God.
Leading
psychologists of the twentieth century have all recognised
that there is a hunger deep within the human heart. Freud said, 'People are hungry for love.' Jung said, 'People are hungry for security.' Adler said, "People are hungry for significance.'
Jesus said, "I am the bread of
life" (John 6:35) – in
effect, I’m the one who can satisfy that hunger, and make life worth living.
What other things did He say that points to His identity? …
Many
people are walking in darkness, depression, disillusionment and despair –
they’re looking for direction. Jesus said “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in
darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Someone once said after they
became a Christian, 'It was as if the light had suddenly been turned on
and I could see things for the first time.'
§
People
are often frightened about death – they don't like to think about it, but if
they do, they have no answer. Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will not
die” (John 11:25-26).
Of course we’ll die physically, but will have everlasting life.
§
People
are looking for a way to God. People look at horoscopes, at crystals, for
a way to something outside themselves, and Jesus said, "I am the way”. People are looking
for a system of thinking that really works, but Jesus said; "I am the truth".
People are looking to get the most out of their lives – Jesus said, "I am the life". Other people said this is the way; this is
the truth, that is the way to lead your life, but Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life” (John 14:6).
§
People
often carry around a whole load of baggage, anxiety, guilt, and fears – Jesus
said, "Come unto me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"
(Matthew
11:28).
§
People
sometimes look for those they can admire and strive to be like.
Jesus said "follow me"
(Mark
1:17).
§
He
said: “to receive me is to receive God”
(Matthew
10:40), “to welcome me is to welcome God” (Mark 9:37), “to see me is to see God” (John 14:9). Another astonishing claim.
Jesus also
said and did things that indirectly showed that he regarded himself as being in
the same position as God, for example,
§
Jesus
claimed to be able to forgive sins – you remember on one occasion he said to a
man who was paralysed, 'Son, your sins are forgiven' (Mark 2:5).
The religious leaders said, 'Why does this fellow talk like that? He's
blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?' Jesus proved that he had the
authority to forgive sins by healing the paralysed
man.
§
Jesus
then took on himself the authority of God, saying, "so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
The claim to forgive sins is an indirect claim to be the unique Son of God.
§
Jesus
also claimed that one day he would judge the world (Matthew 25:31-32). He said that he’d return and
“sit on his throne in heavenly
glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate
the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”. In effect He said, 'One day you’re all going
to be there and I’m going to divide you, and the criteria for judgement is going to be how you responded to me in your
time on earth. Whether you knew me, whether you were living in a
relationship with me or whether you weren't.' – another
astonishing claim.
Those were just a couple of Jesus’ indirect claims – but did He also
make direct claims of His identity?
When the
question was put to him, 'Are you the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’, Jesus said, 'I am . . . and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.' At that the high priest tore his clothes: 'Why do we need any more witnesses?' he
asked. 'You have heard the blasphemy.
What do you think?' (Mark 14:61-64). Jesus was apparently condemned to death by
His own assertion – claiming to be God was tantamount to blasphemy in Jewish
eyes, worthy of death.
On one
occasion, when the Jews started to stone Jesus, he asked, “Why are you stoning me?”
They replied that they were stoning him for blasphemy “because you, a mere man, claim to be God”
(John
10:33). His enemies
clearly thought that this was exactly what Jesus was declaring.
When
Thomas, one of his disciples, knelt down before Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28), Jesus didn't turn to him and say,
“No, don't say that; I’m not God”. But He did say, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). He rebuked Thomas for being slow to get the
point.
If anyone
makes claims like these they have to be tested.
All sorts of people make all kinds of claims, which don’t necessarily
make them right. When Margaret Thatcher
was still Prime Minister, she was visiting a psychiatric hospital, and as she
went through the door a patient came up to her.
She stuck out her hand and said "Hello, I'm Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister." The
patient said to her "Don't worry
dear, you'll soon get over it, I was like that when I first came in here!"
How can we
test Jesus’ claims? Jesus claimed to be
the unique Son of God – God made flesh. There are three logical
possibilities. If the claims were untrue, either he knew they were untrue
– in which case he was an impostor; or he did not know – in which case he was
mad; … or, there again, the claims were
true.
We must
examine the evidence that we have about his life – His teaching, His works, His
character, His fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy,
and most importantly, His conquest of death.
But that’s a whole new series of sermons!
Let me close with what 2 famous writers have said. Bernard Levin, perhaps the greatest columnist
of my generation, wrote:
"For the fourteen thousandth
time I am not a Christian", and then in the same article went on to
write:
"Is not the nature of Christ, in the words of
the New Testament, enough to pierce to the soul anyone with a soul to be
pierced?... he still looms over the world, his message still clear, his pity
still infinite, his consolation still effective, his words still full of glory,
wisdom and love"
And the Christian writer CS Lewis said:
“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 ... but let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human
teacher. He has not left that open to
us. He did not intend to.”
Let’s close with a prayer: “Loving Lord,
We welcome you as our Messiah, sent to us and anointed by the one true
God. We pray that those who do not accept
You as their Saviour and Lord will come to do so, and
that those who only accept You as a great human teacher will come to understand
Your teaching and realise that it is from God.
Speak to us Lord, we pray. Show
us what You want of us and how you want us to
change. Show us what we can do to spread
Your word. Let
us hear and understand your Word, that our lives may
reflect your glory and we may be your worthy disciples. Amen.”
I am grateful to Ben Witherington, III (SON OF GOD) and Nicky Gumbal (Alpha Course) for material used in this sermon.