No ordinary man
After Jesus delivered his most quoted sermon (Matthew 5-7), Matthew tells us, “the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29). Some say Jesus is just a prophet, a good man, a moral teacher, but not God. Yet, if we pay close attention to his words, it is clear that he is God. The most obvious clue is his claim to forgive sins.
In Mark 2:7, the scribes and the religious teachers asked, “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes, “Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did.” No ordinary man (in his right mind) can claim to forgive all sins. No ordinary man says, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:23-24). No wonder the people asked, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? (John 6:42)” This is easily answered. Jesus Christ, is no ordinary man.
In Mark 2:7, the scribes and the religious teachers asked, “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes, “Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did.” No ordinary man (in his right mind) can claim to forgive all sins. No ordinary man says, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:23-24). No wonder the people asked, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? (John 6:42)” This is easily answered. Jesus Christ, is no ordinary man.
