Which Jesus?

This week is Holy Week, when we commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, who defeated death and gave us eternal life. Many Christians celebrated Palm Sunday at the beginning of this week. I was surprised to hear from two different sources that the palms represented Jewish nationalism. I had never heard of that before. Britannica describes nationalism as ideology based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests. The Jews were laying down palms and shouting “Hosanna!” which actually means “Save us, we pray, O LORD!” The Jews didn’t see Jesus as their Messiah who was able to save them from eternal death, but from Roman oppression. They wanted Rome conquered so that their nation, Israel, would be liberated. They were not thinking about Jesus having the victory over death, sin and Satan, but giving their nation victory over Rome. They were hoping for another Judas Maccabeus who led the Maccabean revolt nearly two centuries earlier against the Seleucid Empire which had oppressed the Jews and desecrated God’s temple. He had won back Jerusalem from this oppressive state and on his return received a hero’s welcome and it was then first recorded that the Jews waved palm branches in celebration of victory from their tyrannic rulers. And this victory and cleansing of the temple is still commemorated with the celebration of Hannukah. So, as the Jews waved palm branches reminiscent of their victory almost 200 hundred years before, they did this with the expectation that Jesus would be the Conquering King taking back their nation from their oppressive rulers, but instead He came to be the Sacrificial Lamb.  They had the wrong idea about Jesus, and they turned against Him just days later when He did not meet their expectations.

After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, Peter and the apostles were brought before an accusatory Jewish Council. However, they boldly proclaimed who Jesus is and why He came.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. Acts 5:30-32

Jesus is the Prince and Savior who granted repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sin, but they were more concerned about a coup against the Romans. Do we too have a distorted view of Jesus because of our culture, political view and our own beliefs and desires? It seems that our ideology affects how we see Jesus, but we are not allowing Jesus to affect our ideology. We may not to want to accept Jesus as He is, but how we want Him to be. So, we reject the Jesus of the Bible to create our own Jesus. Charles Spurgeon wrote this in his devotions:

Thy creatures wrong Thee, O Thou sovereign good! / Thou art not loved, because not understood: / This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile / Ungrateful men, regardless of Thy smile.

We may have misunderstood Jesus and therefore we do not love Him as we should. His own people did not understand Him. Because of this He could not do for them what He wanted to do, and He lamented over Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:37-39

Jesus had said these words after entering Jerusalem and being honoured with palm branches. They didn’t want the care Jesus offered and things went very wrong after that. Instead of overturning Roman rule, He went overturning tables in the temple, His Father’s House, which He said had become a den for thieves instead of a house of prayer. Merchandizers were selling their wares at the temple, but Jesus was having none of this, so He drove them and their buyers out. Jesus was definitely not doing what His people wanted Him to do, but neither were the true prophets of God at times.

All the prophets were prophesying thus, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Behold now, the words of the prophets are uniformly favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I shall speak” … Micaiah said, “If you indeed return safely the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Listen, all you people.” 1 Kings 22:12-14,28

This sounds similar to what is happening these days. Many people only want to listen to what is favorable to them, even if it’s a lie. Some pastors and prophets are making money declaring the “Lord said” when He never said anything to them. They use Jesus to fit into their own schemes of self-glorification and enrichment. These false teachers and false prophets speak peace and prosperity to satisfy itchy ears who are willing to give them money to make them richer while so many in their own churches suffer and missionaries are left to languish in the field. There are people who go to church to be entertained and so a few leaders sometimes spend money to turn their churches into a circus or a playground. I wonder what Jesus would think of this. Would He get angry and overturn the many gimmicks that are in some churches to appease the masses? The Jesus of the Bible does not always tell us what we want to hear. He told the rich young leader to sell all he had a give to the poor and follow Him. We too may even have to suffer according to the will of God, but we can trust our lives to our faithful Creator as we continue doing what is right.  Nevertheless, many of us don’t want to hear about suffering for the Lord. Instead, we want to create our own Jesus who will fulfil our fleshly desires. When we do this, we will not understand who Jesus truly is.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:13-17

Who do you say Jesus is? If you are led by your desires, then you may expect Jesus to fulfil your wants. And you may see Him as just a Conquering King, or a Provider, or a Healer, or a Teacher, or a Prophet. But, if you see Him as not only your Saviour, but the Lord of your life, then your desires will be submitted to Him and He will rule over every area of your life. So which Jesus do you see in your life?