The Outrageous Gospel

 Any student of world religions who reads the Gospel of John for the first time would be struck by the outrageous claims of Jesus Christ.  No other spiritual leader has begun to make the kinds of statements that Jesus makes in this gospel.  Most religious leaders (Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius) would say, "follow my doctrine and you will do well."  Or, "I tell you the truth."  But Jesus dares to say, "I AM the way; I AM the truth."

When Jesus says, "My teaching is not my own; it belongs to the One who sent me" (John 7), it gives pause.  In John 14, the wording is a bit different:  "The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work."  Who is the Father he refers to? Who is the One who "sent me"?  The Jews were familiar with Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament who had sent Moses and the prophets, but Jesus is now referring to that God as "the Father living in me."  No other prophet makes such a claim.

The Jews understood what He was saying, but it was beyond the realm of belief.  "We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself equal with God" (John 10).  

C.S. Lewis, of course, says it better than I can:

If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, "are you Allah?" he would first have rent his clothes and then cut your head off.  If you had asked Confucius, "Are you heaven?"...he would have probably replied, "Remarks which are not in accord with nature are in bad taste."  The idea of a great teacher saying the things Christ said is out of the question. ... The only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man....if you think you are God, there is no chance for you. We may note in passing that He was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect in any of the people who actually met Him.  He produced mainly three effects: Hatred -- Terror-- Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.

I have to wonder how it is that so many people today do express mild approval of Jesus.  It may be that we have only heard about Him, but never actually met Him.  Someone once said that if you want to know Jesus, it is best to start by reading the Gospel of John 7 times before reading anything else in the Bible. That may be great advice, although I have never tried it.  I would suggest not only reading the Gospel, but "chewing" it slowly, meditating over it, muttering it from time to time. I think it has to get inside us, not merely be an object outside of us.  If Jesus says he is the Truth, and if he is not lying or deluded, we need to get into Him and to get Him into us.  And the Gospel of John, outrageous as it is, is a great place to begin.