What's so special about Jesus?

Transcript

Jesus is utterly unique. He’s God and man, all at once.

In the history of the world there have been ‘BIG GOD religions’. Such Gods are far away, transcendent, never visiting earth. OR there have been ‘small god religions’. Think of the Greek or Norse gods — they show up, but they’re petty and they squabble. They are not Ultimate Reality themselves, they are gods with a little “g” and they show themselves to be worse than humans. 

But then there’s Jesus — both God and man. He claims to be the Great I AM, the LORD of the Jewish Scriptures himself. He’s older than the universe, he’s the Saviour of mankind, he’ll wrap everything up at the end of history. He IS Ultimate Reality — He IS the Fountain of Life and Being AND he’s one of us. He joins our human family. He joins our human history. The God who MADE the world, has left footprints on this world. That’s unique.

And that combination — his greatness and his lowliness — pervades everything about him. He’s the KING who serves as the lowest slave. He’s The Holy One reaching out to lepers. He’s The Righteous One who feasts with sinners. He’s the Pure One embraced by prostitutes.

And on the cross where he dies we see those things coming together: his greatness and his lowliness; his kingliness and his servant heart. Here is the Fountain of Life, and he proves he’s the Fountain of Life by pouring himself out with every drop of his blood.

This is unparalleled and unprecedented. In the ‘Big God religions’, such Gods would never stoop to the cross. In the ‘little gods religions’ such gods are too petty for the cross. Jesus is unique. There on the cross we see the true God — one worthy of our trust, our worship, our everything.