WHO IS THAT GUY?

I’m going to ask you to use your imagination for a bit.  


Supposing we met at a party thrown by your husband’s boss.  In a cozy corner where no one else bothered us, I asked you about yourself and you told me all about your job, your family, and your love of sewing and reading.  Then you asked me about myself.  For the next fifteen minutes I regaled you with details about how I was descended from royalty, that I had the promise of a fantastic inheritance from my father upon his death and that I couldn’t wait to come into all that was mine.  


I’m guessing you would have smiled and said “um hum” in all the appropriate places, all the while looking for a way out of what seemed like a really bizarre and probably untrue conversation.  Before it was even near time to leave, you started to anticipate the conversation in the car with your husband on your way home. 


Maybe your side would go something like this: 


YOU:  Oh, my goodness!  What a conversation I had tonight with that lady in the green dress.  Did you see me talking to her? (Husband nods)  Who did you say she was?  


YOU: That lady was ____________________________________________!!!


How would you fill in the blank?

• ·       A nut job
• ·       Seriously suffering from delusions of grandeur
• ·       Someone we should make friends with
• ·       An escapee from a local mental hospital

(By the way, in case you’re wondering, I made that background up.  😊)


In Matthew’s gospel in the Bible, chapter 16, verse 15 we read an account of Jesus speaking with His disciples.  He asks them:


Jesus: Who do men say that I am?


Disciples: Some say John the Baptist (who had already been beheaded), some Elijah,, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.


Jesus: But who do you say that I am?


Simon Peter:  You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.


Jesus: Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.


Like me at the imaginary party, Jesus made some pretty amazing claims about Himself.  He said:

• He had come from heaven (John’s gospel, chapter 3, verse 13)

• Whoever believe in Me will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

• He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (John 5:23)

• I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger and He who believes in Me shall never thirst (speaking of spiritual hunger and thirst – John 6:35)

• I am the light of the world; He who follows me shall never walk in darkness, but have the light of life. (John 8:12)

• Most assuredly I say to you (Jewish leaders), before Abraham was, I AM. (John 8:59 As God, Jesus is eternal, existing before Abraham)

• I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

• My Father, who has given (My sheep) to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.  (John 10:30)

• I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  (John 11:25-26)

• I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.  (John 14:3)

• I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.  (John 14:6)

• I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot received because it neither sees Him or knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  (John 14:15)

• My kingdom is not of this world.   (John 18:36)

These are some pretty audacious claims by Jesus, with others I haven’t recorded.  Maybe some or all of them are new to you.  

If you met Jesus at a neighborhood party and He shared these things with you, what would you say to the driver of your car on the way home?

YOU: This guy I met at the party said all of these far out things about himself.


YOU: That guy is ______________________________________.


How would you fill in the blank? 

·       A nut job who thinks he's equal with God

·       Seriously suffering from delusions of grandeur

·       An escapee from a mental hospital 

If He was any of those things, we could dismiss Him out of hand. 

Some people do, but many, many others down through the ages have believed His claims and seen their lives transformed.

 So. . . . what if all Jesus said about Himself is true?  

Food for thought, isn't it?  Think about it and decide for yourself. Then answer the question:

So, who IS that guy?