Bible Text:

“[The Gospel] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.”                                                                                      (Romans 1:16)

The question is being asked more and more today. Many of you have heard it or read it. The question is this: is Jesus unique, or is he not? Is Jesus really different from a Mohammed or a Buddha? Sometimes the question is asked this way: don’t major religions really say the same thing? Or this way: are the only guests in heaven those who believe in Jesus? 

So, for better or for worse I want to tackle that question as we begin the fall season together. How is Jesus of Nazareth unique from other major spiritual leaders? How is Jesus special? I know of no better way to begin this season. 

Forty-two years ago this month (September 1961) I started seminary. I had a rather vague sense of calling. It was undefined and unsure. But it seemed somehow very real. I left 4 years of engineering mathematics to enter a whole new world. I moved from logarithms to liturgies of the church. I moved from mathematical theories to multiple theologies. I moved from differential equations to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from calculus to church councils. I moved from analytical geometry to Augustine and Anselm and Aquinas—three of the great thinkers of the Christian church. I moved from a Bachelor of Science in mathematics to a Masters of Divinity in theology, in one huge leap. 

The very first paper I had to write—within 6 weeks of starting school—was on the nature of Jesus. There I was, dealing with new language and new concepts. And at the starting gun, I had to answer the question, “What is so unique about Jesus?” I don’t remember much of what I wrote. I did not save the paper. I wish somehow I had. 

But here I am again, 42 years later, in the fall of 2003, with the very same question. Do I have the answers? I suppose you might be saying after 42 years I’d better have them! Peter says in one of his letters: “Always be ready to give an account for the hope that is in you.” 

There is so much I do not know. I do not pretend to understand the so-called divine/human paradox. I do not completely understand how God and humanity can be together in one being. It’s very much like the doctrine of the Trinity. Somewhere I read this, “We do not think about the Trinity so much as we experience it. Only then do we understand. And here is the paradox: that we understand the Trinity mostly when we realize we do not understand.”[i] 

What is unique about Jesus? The early church wrestled with that question long and hard. I read about the debates. Some of them were agonizing. Some of them were hot. In the end, unanimity was difficult to find. 

Let me tell you what I believe. You may believe differently than I do. You may agree or disagree. However, if I were writing that first seminary paper today—not for a professor, and not for a grade, but for you—what would I say? 

REVELATION OF GOD 

First, I think I would say that Jesus is the most complete revelation of God who has ever lived. Jesus is the place I turn to really learn what God is like. 

Some of you have been with me in the studies of Marcus Borg. Borg is sometimes controversial, but I think also very helpful. I am going to begin another one of his studies with you in about two and a half weeks. At once point in one of his books Marcus Borg says, “Jesus is perhaps the most spirit-led person who has ever lived.”[ii] I’m not sure that’s saying enough. But consider this: even if Jesus were only the most spirit-led person who has ever lived, he would still be the revealer of God. 

Jesus is the one who shows me and teaches me about the nature of God. 

Many decades ago, Lloyd C. Douglas wrote a book that became very popular. It was a novel about the life of Jesus entitled The Robe. In one scene in that book, Demetrius, a slave, is watching the parade on Palm Sunday morning. He pushes his way through the crowd, trying to get up close to Jesus. All of a sudden he finds himself standing right next to Jesus on the donkey. He looks into the eyes of Jesus and sees his face. It is a life-transforming experience. 

Later, visiting with another slave, in a conversation the second slave says, “Demetrius, you saw him up close? You actually saw him?” Demetrius is silent, but he nods affirmatively, still spellbound. 

“Tell me, Demetrius, is he crazy?” Demetrius shook his head, implying, “No, absolutely not.” 

“Then who is he? Is he a king?” 

Demetrius responds with a kind of far-off sound, “No, he’s not a king.” 

“Well, who then? Who is he?” 

“I don’t know. But he’s much more than a king.” 

Jesus revealed an entirely new image of God—one that had not been known before. He revealed God not as a warrior king, not as one in royal robes who rules in majesty, but as one who is simple, humble, and approachable. 

I like what Paul says in our New Testament lesson for today: “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” A little later he says, “In Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”[iii] 

The Gospel of John recounts an episode of Jesus and his disciples at the table at the time of the Last Supper. Philip, one of the disciples, says to Jesus, “Teacher, show us the Father.” 

Jesus looks at Philip and says, “Have you been with me this long and you do not know me, Philip?” And then Jesus says, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.”[iv] 

Other religions reveal something of God. They are not false; they are only incomplete. Jesus reveals the maximum. I believe that. 

A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD 

A second thing I would say is that Jesus is your key to a relationship with God. When you walk with Jesus, you walk with God. I’m not sure I can explain this, but I do believe it. 

That’s why we sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Or it’s why we sing, “Jesus is all the world to me, he’s my friend.” Or it’s why we sing the folk song, “Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water.” 

How does this work? Again, I’m not sure I can explain it. But I am sure that a relationship with Jesus is the best relationship you can acquire. 

I read a story about a Muslim man who grew up in a very devout home. He was taught, and believed, that Christians were the infidels. 

In his adult life he became enamored of Mahatma Gandhi, the great Hindu leader of India. Gandhi was very much devoted to Jesus. One might even say that Gandhi was the most Christian Hindu who had ever lived. Through Gandhi this Muslim man became a convert to Christianity. It angered his family and they disowned him. But he called himself “a Muslim who walks with Jesus.” He discovered what I have discovered. He discovered what you can discover. Jesus is our relationship with God. 

THE LOVE OF GOD IN HUMAN FORM 

So Jesus is the revelation of God. Jesus is the center of our relationship with God. And Jesus is also the love of God in human form. Jesus is the incarnation—the living out—of what love is meant to be. 

Jesus is the very depth of the love of God—the God who forgives, encourages, disciplines, comforts, and assures all people. 

Some of you will recognize the name of Karl Barth. Karl Barth was probably the most influential theologian of the 20^th century. He died sometime around 1970. He shaped Christian thinking for most of that century. Karl Barth was a voluminous writer. He wrote many books, but his most famous books were a 12-volume set of books called “Church Dogmatics.” Each of them was about 1000 pages long and heavily footnoted. I bought volume 1. I never bought volume 2 or any more! Karl Barth wrote for scholars and to some degree for seminary students. 

At one point toward the end of his life, someone asked Karl Barth this question: can you sum up the Gospel in one sentence? The great theologian was quiet for a moment, and then he looked up and said, "I think I can. It would be this: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’” Jesus is the incarnation of the perfect love of God. 

This past August I had an opportunity to spend time with all seven of our grandchildren. Four of them are in or nearly in their teenage years. They are very much on their own. But there are three who are still very young. One is two, one is age one, and one is only two months old. During that month I spent a bit of time with each one of the youngest ones. If they became fussy or irritable or wouldn’t go to sleep, I would sometimes take them for a short walk. I decided when I took the grandchildren for a walk, holding them over my shoulder, I would sing to them, the same song. And I sang it over and over again: “Jesus loves you, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, you are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves you.” 

Once in a while I varied the song to sing, “Jesus loves the little children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” 

I believe that my primary calling as a preacher and as a disciple is to tell you, to remind you, and to tell you again that you are loved. 

What is unique about Jesus? Some will ask, “Is Jesus the only way to heaven?” My answer to that is this: “That’s God’s business, not mine.” 

Recently there was a poll in a major Protestant denomination. The poll revealed some interesting information. Over three-quarters of the people surveyed in the poll believe that Jesus is the absolute truth for humankind. But less than half of them believe that only Christians will be saved. 

Can you affirm both things? Can you affirm that paradox? Jesus is the absolute truth about life, but Christians are not the only ones who can be saved. I think I can affirm that. I think I can live with that paradox. 

But again, all of that is God’s business and not mine. My business is to work with what I know. And this much I know, 42 years after starting seminary: Jesus is the most complete revelation of God who has ever lived. Jesus is your key to a relationship with God. And Jesus is the love of God in human form. 

That’s what keeps me going in ministry. That’s what keeps me going in my own faith. That’s what keeps me energized. And that is the heart of the Christian life journey.