What if he never existed? Some say he was created to benefit white people and make the rest less aggressive. Manufactured by Constantine in order to compromise Christianity and promote paganism. Just a regular prophet. What do you think, or what else have you heard being said about him? Which one do you believe?
The answer is contained within the bible itself. Such allegations are not new. Even during his life on earth, Jesus faced such opposition and ridicule. Such accusations, such as that he was a result of fornication
John 8:41
“They said to him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.'”
He is making things up.
John 6:42
“They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, “I have come down from heaven”?’
Or he had a demon
John 7:20
“The crowd answered, ‘You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”
He was a Heretic
John 8:48
“The Jews answered him, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?'”
John 8:52
“The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet you say, “If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.”
Or accusations that he had gone mad
Mark 3:21
“And when his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for they were saying, ‘He is beside himself.'”
The Greek phrase “ἐξέστη” (exestē) means “he is out of his mind” or “he’s crazy”.
And the big one of course, he never rose from the dead
Matthew 28:12-15
12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
If it were you who received such accusations, how could you have responded? Could you have continued with the mission, or could you have given up so quickly? Good news: Jesus never did, but went on to complete his mission, giving you and me a second chance. Realising that the Jews had issues with his personality and other things, he had this important statement that I want us to pay closer attention to
John 14:11 (NIV)
“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”
Jesus is saying, just remove me from the picture a bit and consider my work. Consider what it is that I stand for or what i am advocating for, maybe this will help you better understand and reconsider.
Many icons have advocated for peace, for love, against hatred, against crime and war, but Jesus’ name stands out till today. Some of these names have been erased from our memory, but not the thought of Jesus.
Some of these names were celebrated only when they were still alive, but even in his death, Jesus ‘s light shone even brighter. Names like Martin Luther Jr King who spoke out against hatred, Mahatma Gandhi, who led non-violent resistance for Indian independence, Nelson Mandela (South Africa): Anti-apartheid activist and former President, Mother Teresa, the list goes on, they have all come and gone, but the name Jesus still stands today.
Remove the name Jesus from the picture and tell me how you will promote love and peace today. Yesterday they tried, and they failed. In 1793, France did the most abominable things. They abolished religion, declared that the nation recognised no God, the old and new testament were burnt throughout, people shouting verbal insults to the bible.
They went on and established the temple of reason instead, fornication was established by law, protestants murdered in cold blood, their motto became ‘Crush the wretch’ meaning Christ, abolished the Sabbath, every tenth day substituted for mirth and profane, death pronounced to be an eternal sleep, set up a godess of reason in the form of a vile woman and publicly worshiped her.
What happened after will shock you. After 3 and a half years they would restore all that why? Because they set out to destroy Christ’s witnesses, but they filled France with blood and horror so that they were horror-struck at the result of their wicked deeds and were glad to remove their impious hands from the bible.
Brother and sister, Jesus is real; do not be deceived. If it were not for him, this world wouldn’t be inhabitable today. We need to believe in the words Jesus spoke to us.
John 14:11 (NIV)
“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”
Make Jesus your go-to God today, and peace, love and joy will follow you all the days of your life.
God bless you