How do you see Jesus?

Baptism of Dave Marshall 22/7/07 am.

When I was a child, in my junior school, when you came of age you got to be a dinner server on your table of 8. Only two people were allowed. I got the job! Alongside me was a girl who got the job too. Not only was I placed with a girl, but she wasn’t considered a pretty girl, she wasn’t popular and she was considered to be a bit smelly! So my joy at promotion to responsibility was curtailed by being identified with someone who wouldn’t rank me highly in the school social network! But as we worked together in our new responsibility I found she was fine, fun and friendly. And I couldn’t think why people wouldn’t like her. I’m glad to say I changed my mind.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:15,

from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we don’t think of him that way any more. (ISV)

Paul had changed his view of Jesus. Why? Paul and Jesus grew up about the same time, in the same part of the world and even in the same religion – Judaism. What happened and what changed?

Judaism wanted God to step into the world and get rid of all the bad things. God had said he would do this trough his deliverer (“Messiah”). People came along and said they were God’s man, but they weren’t. So naturally people got disappointed and suspicious of their claims. Jesus came along and said he was God’s man. Many got suspicious. Among them was Paul. He rejected Jesus and anyone who followed him.

We read earlier how he went round torturing Christians, but God stopped him in his tracks. He makes him fall to the ground, God speaks and says “I am Jesus, who you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5) Significantly this happens after Jesus has been killed. So he’s obviously alive again. That was precisely the evidence Jesus said would be given to prove he was who he said he was. Coming back from the dead is a good proof of someone’s word! Jesus said he would die and on the third day come back to life. And he did! Paul met him. That’s what made the difference. That’s why he said “Even if we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we don’t think of him that way any more.”

In fact, back now in 2 Corinthians, he gives the answer to why he’s changed his mind just before he says he doesn’t see Jesus the same now (v14-15):

The love of Christ controls us, for we are convinced of this: that one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died. He died for all people, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.

So Jesus not only died and rose to prove who he is, but also for us. Why would he do that? Again Paul tells us:

For in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them (19)

Sometimes, sadly, a married couple divorce on the grounds of “irreconcilable differences”. They can’t get over the gulf between them. The Bible tells us that we have made a gulf between ourselves and God. Paul was like that. He didn’t like Jesus, there was a gulf. It wasn’t God’s fault but his. The bible calls it sin. But it wasn’t irreconcilable. God, in Jesus paid the price. “Not counting sins against them” He showed love. He built a bridge over the gulf. Paul then completely changes his mind about Jesus. Instead of hating him he loves him. He gives his life to him:

He died for all people, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.

So Christians see Jesus differently, and they become different. That’s why Paul writes,

if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and—look!—all things have become new! (17)

From human perspectives, Jesus is seen as all kinds of things. He’s a prophet. He’s a good man. He’s a liberator. He’s a moral reformer. He is a philosopher. He’s a clever politician. To some Jesus is a false prophet. He is a blasphemer, he’s an unknown figure from the past, he’s a swear word.

But to be a Christian means to realise, Like Paul, that he’s the one who saves us. He rescues us. He builds the bridge over the gulf of sin and death so we can live.

Going back to Paul’s account of how he became a Christian, we read that he was blinded for three days. Then God sent someone to pray for him, and as he did we read,

All at once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized (Acts 9:18).

Christians are baptized, not to make them Christians, but because they have “seen the light”. Going into the water means death. Paul said “one died for all, so all have died.” Going under the water speaks of burial. “The old is gone”, dead and buried. Coming out of the water speaks of resurrection to new life: “the new has come”.   

Dave is a new person. What about you? How do you see Jesus? Through human eyes or heaven’s eyes?