Person of Jesus

• Person of Jesus

  CS Lewis

  • Jesus is the son of God but his audience sees him as a teacher of wisdom
  • if you do not see him as the son of God then he is the Devil

  Dawkins

  • Jesus was a good teacher of wisdom

  Hick

  • good example of moving from self-centeredness to love-centeredness
  • Jesus is no different to any of the other prophets - Ghandi, Mohammed
• Son of God

  Jesus called himself "I am" multiple times

  • This echoes the name God gives himself when talking to Moses: “I am who I am.”
  • Jesus also says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) and “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30).
  • For some theologians, this demonstrates that Jesus knew that he was fully God - hypostatic union

  
  

  however if Jesus was fully human then he couldn't have been fully God - loins of Adam - original sin

  John 14:28 - 'The Father is greater than I'
• Miracles - Son of God

  demonstrate Jesus’ divine power

  Jesus healing a blind man (John 9:1-41)

  walking on water (Mark 6:47-52)
• Teacher of wisdom

  • deeper insights into the laws
  • steering away from the hypocrisy and legalism that he accused the Pharisees of
  • inner motivation and purity - intensifies the law of Moses - likens anger to murder
• Liberator

  • For many Christians, Jesus’ challenge to the political and religious authorities of this time presents him as a liberator.
  • Jesus was especially critical of the religious authorities, and in particular, the Pharisees.
  • He was also critical of the values and behaviours of the society in which he lived.
• Liberator 


  Healing the bleeding woman

  In the story of Jesus healing the bleeding woman (Mark 5:24-34), Jesus liberates a woman from an illness that blighted her life for 12 years.

  But, as a menstruating woman, she would have also been viewed as impure and shunned under Mosaic law.

  In healing her, Jesus liberates her from both the illness and the marginalisation she faced.

  Jesus praises the woman's faith and speaks directly to her.

  In doing so, he is challenging Mosaic law and those in the crowd to alter their treatment of such an ‘outcast’.
• Liberator

  In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus challenges the Mosaic law taking precedence over compassion - liberation from legalism

  the sinful woman - outcast - Jesus liberates the woman from her sins through forgiveness

  Jesus' triumphant return

  Jesus arrives on a donkey and not a horse, liberating the crowd from their expectations of him as a kingly liberator

  suggests that Jesus was not going to be who they expected

  cleansing the temple shows his main focus is the religious authorities.

  liberates people from their expectation that he would free them from Roman occupation.