When I was a kid my family never missed the TV program: To Tell the Truth. We really enjoyed trying to be the first one in our little group to pick the real McCoy. It was a lot of fun. But, you know, I have to wonder how many of us would recognize the real Jesus, if he came to us as though he could be a new neighbor or a traveling preacher. John tells us that most folks just didn’t know who Jesus was (John 1:10). Imagine! He created the whole world, but no one recognized him! He even came to the very people he had brought out of slavery and blessed so often, forgiving them when they broke their promises to him, yet, John reveals to us that even they would not receive him as one of their own (John 1:11).
You know that is pretty hard to take, if you ask me. What if you gave a group of people all they had and insured that they would continue to have enough, but they had forgotten all about you, believing that all they acquired was simply through their own strength and cleverness? What would you do? Moreover, what if, out of that group of people you singled out a particular family and especially blessed them over and above what you did for everyone else in the group, yet when you came knocking on their door and introduced yourself, they wouldn’t even give you the time of day? What would you do? Wouldn’t that be hard to take? I think so.
No one knew him or believed him when Jesus stood up and identified himself! What did he do? John says that Jesus simply offered himself to anyone—anyone—who would receive him and believe him. To these he gave the right to become children of God through adoption (John 1:12). John says those who believed Jesus were born of God (John 1:13). They didn’t receive this right by being children of the right family, viz. children of Abraham. They didn’t receive this right through the authority of the king or the father. Nor were they able to receive this right through their own strength of willpower. This right didn’t come that way. We are the children of God only because we receive and believe Jesus (John 1:13). That’s it folks! How do we obtain the eternal life offered in Jesus? It doesn’t come through the right genealogy, or through the authority of a king or a patriarch, and neither can we earn it or obtain it through personal struggle. Eternal life comes only one way—through believing and receiving Jesus as one’s own Savior.
I think it was difficult for Jesus to stand up and identify himself—I don’t mean to imply he hesitated, but I do think he knew it wouldn’t be a bed of roses to stand up and say, “Here I am. It’s me, the One you’ve been waiting for!” The real Jesus stood up, but he was mocked. No one believed him. Should we expect anything different, if we stand up and receive him, whom the world has rejected? If we stand up to say, “Yes, I believe you, Jesus. I trust you and want to walk with you,” should we expect accolades from those who don’t believe him and wouldn’t be caught dead walking with him? Let’s be real! Life (this life) just isn’t like that.
Isaiah said that we should expect One who didn’t have any physical features that would attract us to him (Isaiah 53:2). The fact is, we should expect One, concerning whom, it was easy to believe he was being chastised by God (Isaiah 53:3-4). But Isaiah went further to show, that this wasn’t true. Although we didn’t desire him, he accepted his lot without complaint and received the just punishment for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5-7). When the real Jesus stood up, he stood tall and the world nailed him to the cross, believing it was the most appropriate thing to do. And, John tells us in his letter that, though we stand up to be counted with Jesus, the world won’t know us either (1John 3:1). They think we are foolish and bent on self-destruction. But, you know what? John calls this the love of God. It is only fitting that God’s adopted children should stand in the same place as his Son—misunderstood! Will the real Jesus Freak please stand up?
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2 responses to “Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?”
I want to click the “Like” button but “like” isn’t the right word. Because it hits hard, “appreciate” would be better.
I think most of us would have to admit that although we sometimes/often stand up and be counted, there are too many times that we don’t act as God’s adopted children – when we fail to “be” Jesus in this world – when we stay in our comfort zone rather than appear foolish – when we put self first.
Thank you for stopping by again, and I appreciate your comment. It is true of us all, I think, that we wish we said or did something different when we could have lifted Jesus up. But, like Peter, we learn, and our end will be better than when we began. Jesus promises to grow us, and I depend upon that. May the Lord bless you (I know he has–I remember reading your testimony), but may he bless you more. :-)