Testimonies about Jesus
In the passage today we will discover what Jesus Christ claimed to be true about himself, as well as what some people have testified about him. Either Jesus Christ is the one he claims to be, or he is a fraud! After reading this passage you should be able to make up your own mind.
What Jesus says about Himself
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Exercise:
In which of the statements above do you find the most comfort? Explain why!
People’s testimonies about Jesus
Lord Hailsham:
“He was born in a village-town by a village girl. He grew up in a different village, working in a carpenter’s workshop until he reached the age of thirty. Then he was a travelling preacher for three years. He never wrote any books. He never held any office. He never had a family, never possessed any property. He didn’t have university education, and he never visited any big cities. He never went more than three hundred km away from the place he was born. He didn’t do any of the things we normally consider great. He had no other letter of recommendation than himself.
He was only thirty years old when people turned against him. His friends fled from him, and he was delivered to his enemies. He had to suffer being debased in a court case, and at last he was crucified on a cross between two criminals. While he was dying, his executioners were throwing dice for his clothes, his only possession here on earth. After he died he was laid in a borrowed tomb, thanks to a friend who pitied him.
2000 years have come and gone. Today he is still the central person in humanity, most important to its future development. All the armies that ever marched; all the fleets that ever sailed; all the parliaments ever assembled; all the kings that ever reigned; all put together have never been so important to this planet as the life of this special person.
We have to admit that we would be totally spellbound in his company. Jesus was irresistibly attractive as a human person. The one that was crucified was a young man, vital, full of life and enjoying life, the very Lord of life, even the Lord of laughter. He was so attractive that people followed him for the sake of just being in his gracious presence. The twenty first century has still to rediscover the reality of this glorious and happy person whose very presence fills his followers with joy.”
C. S LEWIS
“What shall we do with Christ? That is not the question. The question is what he will do with us. You must accept or reject history. What he claimed is totally different from what any other teacher has said. Others say: This is the truth about the universe. This is how you should behave. He says: I am the truth, the way and the life. He claims: No one can find the truth except through me. Try to save your life and you will inevitably lose it. Give up yourself, follow me, and you will be saved. He says: If you are ashamed of me, if you turn away when you hear my call, then I will turn away from you when I return. If anything keeps you away from God or God away from you, cut it off and throw it away. If it is your eye, tear it out. If it is your hand, that is carrying heavy burdens, then I will take care of that. All your sins, I will wipe away. I can do it. I am the resurrection, I am the regeneration, I am the life. Eat me, drink me, I am your food. And at last: Don’t be afraid. I have overcome the whole universe! This is what really matters!”
"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 said he was a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your own 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 with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
Sadhu Sundar Singh
"I was born in a family that was considered Sikh by caste, and in which the teaching of Hinduism was considered most essential. My dear mother was a living example and faithful exponent of its teaching. She used to rise daily before daylight, and, after bathing, used to read the Bahgavad Gita."
"I often used to read the Hindu scriptures till midnight that I might in some way quench the thirst of my soul for peace."
"I frequently asked the pundit to explain my spiritual difficulties for me.
" `You cannot get to this grade of spirituality all at once. To get to it, a long time is essential. Why are you in such a hurry? If this hunger is not satisfied in this life it will be satisfied in the next re-births, provided that you keep on trying for it,` he said."
"The loss of my mother and my elder brother within a few months of each other was a very great shock to me. The thought that i should never see them again cast me into despondency and despair, for I could never know into what they had been re-born, nor could I ever even guess what I was likely to be in my next re-births."
"In the Hindu religion, the only consolation for a broken heart like mine was that I should submit to my faith and bow down to the inexorable law of Karma, which is the law of works and retribution."
"Now another change came into my life. I was sent, for my secular education, to a small primary school that had been opened by the American Presbyterian Mission in our village of Rampur. At that time I had so many prejudices about Christianity that I refused to read the Bible at the daily lessons. My teachers insisted that that I should attend, but I was so opposed to it that the next year I left that school and went to attend a government school at Sanewal three miles away, and there I studied for some months."
"To some extent the teaching of the Gospel on the love of God attracted me, but I still thought it was false. So firmly was I set in my opinions that one day, in the presence of my father and others, I tore up a Gospel and burned it."
"According to my ideas at that time, I thought I had done a good deed in burning the Gospel, yet my unrest of heart increased, and for two days afterward I was very miserable. On the third day, when I felt I could bear it no longer, I got up at three o’clock in the morning and after bathing, I prayed that if there was a God at all he would reveal himself to me, show me the way of salvation, and end this unrest of my soul. I firmly made up my mind that, if this prayer was not answered I would before daylight go down to the railway tracks and place my head on the rail before the oncoming Ludhiana express."
"I remained until about half past four, praying and waiting and expecting to see Krishna or Buddha, or some other Avatar of the Hindu religion, but they did not appear. A light seemed to be shining in the room, and I opened the door to see where it came from, but it all was dark outside. I returned inside, and it seemed that the sphere of light increased in intensity. In this light there appeared not the form I had expected, but the living Christ whom I had counted as dead."
"To all eternity I shall never forget his glorious and loving face, nor the few words which he spoke: "Why do you persecute me? See, I have died on the cross for you and the whole world." These words were burned into my heart as by lightning, and I fell on the ground before him. My heart was filled with inexpressible joy and peace, and my whole life was entirely changed. Then the old Sundar Singh died and a new Sundar Singh, to serve the living Christ, was born."
"It is a characteristic of this new life that it constrains to bring others to Christ, not out of/from compulsion, but from the desire to let others share in the joy of this wonderful experience. During the summer holidays I went to Subathu and Simla, and, instead of returning to school I was baptised and began to go about as a sadhu and preach the Gospel."
"Without Christ I had been without hope and full of fear about the future life. Now, by his presence, he has turned fear into love, and hopelessness, into realisation. Fear is transitory, but love is eternal. Faith and love are the tendrils of the soul, which in the light and heat of God’s sun, grow towards heaven, and cling around the Lord of love, but without him, hopeless and in the dark, they wither away and die."
Vishal Mangalwadi:
"I myself am a devotee of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the teachings of Jesus Christ alone make sense to me. I believe that the revelation, the philosophy, the worldview, and the map of reality given by Christ alone stand up to the test of reason. They alone can be upheld with total intellectual integrity.
Also, I have found Him to be a true guru. He has been my friend, my comforter, my guide, my protector, and my provider – one who dwells in me and one to whom I can turn at any time for help, love, joy, peace, and power.
Finally, I believe that Jesus Christ alone can fulfil our spiritual and cultural aspirations."