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Sermons
Who Is
Jesus?
Colossians
1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
Rev. Kenneth M. Locke
The Downtown Presbyterian Church
Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus?
That’s the question of those at the cross, even of the
bandits. That’s the question the
people of
The people in
Jesus is the head of the church, not
Paul or an earthly priest. In him all of
God’s grace dwelt – Jesus was not a semi-God. Everything that makes God God was in Jesus so
Jesus wasn’t quasi-divine. Again,
lots of gentile heroes were only half-God and some early Christian heresies
held Jesus was not really divine.
Finally, Paul says Jesus is the one
through whom we are reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus’ cross.
Who is Jesus? That’s who Jesus is. But truthfully, if all we had were
Paul’s letters I doubt there would be many Christians today. Paul’s list tells us about Jesus but
not much about who he is.
When you’re interviewing for a
job, one of the questions is always “tell us about yourself.” “I’m friendly, I’m
punctual, I’m hard working and good with people” works for a while
but eventually the interviewers are going to ask for examples. They’re going to want to hear some
stories about you.
Most of the time my wife and I were
dating and engaged my parents lived overseas.
So what they knew about her was what I told them. “She’s beautiful and lovely and kind.” But I also told them about her playing her
recorder on car-trips and how good her sewing was and the kind of poetry she
read and how she road her bike everywhere.
They got to know her from my descriptions and my stories about her.
The New Testament works much the same
way. Counterbalancing Paul we have the
Gospels. And there we read the stories
– Jesus driving out demons showing his power over spiritual forces. Jesus walking on water and controlling the
forces of nature. Jesus healing on the
Sabbath declaring he is more concerned about people than laws. Jesus feeding people, caring for their
physical needs. And Jesus dying on a
cross, promising a dying thief to remember him in heaven.
Both the descriptions and the stories
are vitally important. Knowing Jesus
means reading Paul’s lists and pondering them. Knowing Jesus means learning the Gospel
stories and feeling their power. Getting
to know Jesus means bringing them both together.
And the message of Jesus is the same
for the people at the cross, the people of
Friends if you forget everything else
you hear today remember this – come to Jesus because Jesus is the one who
remembers. When you are unsure of your
role in creation, when you feel alone in the world, when you need healing, when
the waters of life are drowning you, when you are dying on a cross you’ve
made for yourself or to which others have nailed you – come to
Jesus.
Who is Jesus? He is the one who always remembers. So come to him. Amen.
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