The options to choose are whether Jesus is wicked or insane, or whether he is divine?
Jesus scandalised the Pharisees by eating with tax
collectors and sinners. He spoke against those who trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, and said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.” Jesus scandalised them when He suggested that the mercy
He showed to sinners was that of God’s own attitude to sinners; by sharing the
table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet. Perhaps even
more did He scandalise them by forgiving sins. Only God can forgive sins, so
either Jesus was blaspheming or He was speaking the truth and was God.
Only if Jesus is truly divine can He justify such
claims that would otherwise be scandal and blasphemy. So all who listen to the
Gospel must decide, is Jesus insane/wicked or is He divine – there is no other
option if we take the evidence seriously.
Jesus’ divine identity was gradually revealed in
what He said. When He said, “He who is not with me is against me”, this could
only be taken seriously if Jesus was divine. Similarly when He said, “something
greater than Jonah… greater than Solomon”, and something “greater than the
Temple” was there. His reminder that David called his Messiah his Lord, was
also revealing the Messiah as being divine. But then we come to the gospel of
today (Jn 8:51-59) and Jesus then makes it quite plain: “Amen. Amen. I say unto
you, before Abraham was, I AM.” “I AM” was the divine name revealed by God to
Moses at the burning bush.
Thus the Sanhedrin had to make a stark choice: was
this man the Messiah God, or was Jesus a blasphemer deserving death? They made
their choice and Jesus became the victim.
We too must make this choice. We make this choice
when we accept the Christian faith as our faith. But we must also make this
choice in the moral decisions of daily life. When we choose to sin, we choose
to go against the way of Christ, and we thus make Him out to be a liar. Sin is
an anti-Christ action, and in that sin we are identifying with the Sanhedrin
who condemned Jesus. When we resist temptation, we affirm that Jesus is God the
Saviour.
