Speaking Favorably of Jesus
The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.” But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders. John 7:11-13 (NLT2)
The man, Christ Jesus, without sin, the Son of God, was perceived as a fraud who deceives people. Consider the depth of discernment functioning in those who said such things. They are with us still, offering their skepticism as intelligence, and as utterly wrong as were their predecessors millennia ago. During the Second World War, the BBC had C.S. Lewis present a series of talks over the radio on Christianity. The content was later made into a book called Mere Christianity. He, in that mid-Twentieth Century time of tragedy, addressed people’s mistaken views of Jesus.
I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic– on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg– or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
We may agree with Lewis that Jesus is Lord and God, but will we risk saying something favorable about him? We may strongly disagree with those who diminish or demonize Jesus, but will we boldly say something favorable about him in public, at work, at a family gathering, or even at church? If asked in a church meeting even after experiencing Jesus in personal and powerful ways, would you say something about Jesus?
Some people struggle. It is too much, far too much, for them to go beyond what they consider safe limits to say something favorable about Jesus. But who should say something about him, those who reject him or those who rejoice in him? If Jesus has done something for you, is doing something now, and you expect he will be doing something in the future, why not say something favorable about him? If not you, who? If not now, when?
Think about Jesus, who he is, what he has done, is doing, and will do. What favorable characteristics or works came to mind?
How is Jesus impacting your life today?
When you have an opportunity today, will you say something favorable about Jesus?