The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:9-14

“There are, then, two myths that swirl around our heads, around the churches, around the TV studios, and around the editorial offices of newsmagazines. Let’s name them even more clearly and, to some extent, shame them, so we can be clear about the present confusions before we turn to the equally confusing world of the first century. First conservative Christianity. Here we find the classic Western Christian myth about Jesus, which is still believed by millions around the world. In this myth, a super-natural being called “God” has a super-natural “Son” whom he sends, virgin-born, into our world, despite the fact that it’s not his natural habitat, so that he can rescue people our of this world by dying in their place. As a sign of his otherwise secret divine identity, this “son” does all kinds of extraordinary and otherwise impossible “miracles,” crowning them all by rising from the dead and returning to “heaven,” where he waits to welcome his faithful followers after their deaths.

The second myth, prevalent in the skeptical “western wind” of our perfect storm, is the new classic modernist myth, which is widely believed in secular society and in several mainline churches too. In this new myth of Christian origins, Jesus was just an ordinary man, a good first-century Jew, conceived and born in the ordinary way. He was a remarkable preacher and teacher, but he probably didn’t do all those “miracles”. Some people seem to have felt better after meeting him, but that was about it.” (“Two Jesus Myths”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 17-18)

Behind many of the questions that might swirl around Jesus, the question most asked by non-Christians is this: “Was Jesus the Son of G-d, or not?” Now, when people ask this question, are they wondering if he was the supernatural being of G-d, with the focus on the G-d part of “Son of G-d”: who revealed secret truths, did extraordinary miracles, and now is back in heaven to rule over the world and the heavenly realm? Or, do they want an answer that focuses more on the Son part of “Son of G-d”: where Jesus is more human than he ever could be divine, and as such most of the story of Jesus is just made up myths? They focus more on a Jesus who was a really good person, and we should model our lives after his goodness, but there was no resurrection and ascension.

How would you explain to a skeptic what Jesus means to you? How would you seek to convince them that Jesus was both “Son” and “G-d”? We need to ponder these kinds of questions if we are to help others find the Jesus who is the “Son of G-d”, and savior of the world. Yes, Jesus was a really good person, but he also died on a cross and was raised on the third day for the salvation of the world.

Pastor Dave