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Brent L. Top, Bruce A. Van Orden, Lord of the Gospels: The 1990 Sperry Symposium on the New Testament, 162-171. Chapter Twelve "I Am He": Jesus' Public Declarations of His Own Identity Jonathan H. Stephenson, CES Curriculum Writer A few years ago a controversy stirred in America surrounding Hollywood's release of a movie about the life of Jesus Christ. One leading news magazine, Time, ran a cover feature entitled "Who Was Jesus?" It reported some modern scholars' opinions that Jesus did not actually claim to be the Messiah, that such assertions represent the Church's later belief inserted by Gospel writers into their accounts, and that when Jesus said he was the "Son of God" or the "Lamb," he did not mean to be taken literally, only metaphorically. 1 Present-day scholars, the article continued, emphasize Jesus' human qualities. Five current diverse theories about Jesus emerge: "itinerant sage," "Hellenistic cynic," "apocalyptic prophet," "inspired rabbi," and "classic Jesus." 2 In the midst of the public controversy surrounding the movie about Christ, Richard P. Lindsay, managing director of the Public Communications Department of the Church, released an official statement: "As our name implies, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revere Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Having experienced the uplifting power of His Spirit, we encourage all people to truly seek the Savior and the eternal truths He taught, and to shun those things that detract from the dignity and spirit of His divine mission." 3 The world may debate "Who was Jesus?" but faithful Latter-day Saints need not get caught up in a web of skepticism and unbelief. Modern revelation confirms the witness of the writers of the Gospels that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. Indeed, Jesus in his mortal ministry again and again bore witness of his own divinity. The Joseph Smith Translation (JST) aids us considerably in our quest to understand the Lord's declarations. Declarations of His Divine Sonship One way Jesus taught his own identity was to speak of the father-son relationship he had with God, calling himself "the Son" and God "my Father." Repeatedly he emphasized that God was his only Father and that he was God's only begotten Son on earth. When Jesus entered Jerusalem to begin his public ministry, he made his way to the temple where "changers of money" infested its outer courtyard. He commanded the merchants to leave the temple, saying, "Make not my Father's house an house of merchandise" (John 2:16). The temple at Jerusalem was perhaps the greatest source of inspiration and pride for the Jews. This was holy space where God himself could come and where the Jews went to offer sacrifices and confess their sins before God. When Jesus challenged the authority of the temple rulers, attention throughout Jerusalem fell upon him. Religious leaders treated him with contempt; the masses watched and wondered. Jesus taught his identity to the gathering crowds by calling the temple "my father's house," not "our father's house." Jesus' declaration meant that he was not merely a mortal man but the Son of God himself. When Jesus returned to Jerusalem to celebrate another Jewish feast, he drew tremendous attention to himself by healing a man on the Sabbath day. Jesus defended the timing of this action by declaring, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). His explanation openly confronted the strict laws and practices of the Jewish Sabbath. His audience protested his words, for they understood him to say that "God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (v. 18). Jesus further taught, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. . . . For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth. . . . All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (vv. 19-20, 23). He concluded his statement by declaring, "I am come in my Father's name" (v. 43). For all who had ears to hear and hearts to understand, Jesus had openly taught that God was his Father and that he was the divine Son of God. During his Galilean ministry, Jesus fed the five thousand. This action caused many to follow him, seeking more such miracles. They eagerly asked Jesus to repeat Moses' miracle and provide manna from heaven. The Lord explained, "Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven" (John 6:32). Twice more, the Savior defined his relationship with God, his Father: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me" (v. 37); "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (v. 44). Because Jesus was plain and straightforward in declaring his unique relationship with God, "from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (v. 66). While visiting Jerusalem for the feast of the Tabernacles, Jesus again declared his relationship with his Father. The Pharisees debated him, questioning him about his right to bear record of himself. Jesus responded, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. . . . I speak that which I have seen with my Father" (John 8:16, 38). As the debate turned to a discussion of fathers, Jesus said, "If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God. . . . I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. . . . It is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God" (vv. 42, 49, 54). The Lord's bold claims made the Pharisees extremely angry. They felt that Jesus had blasphemed in declaring that God was his Father and that God honored him as his Son. Such blasphemy was punishable by death according to Jewish law. The Pharisees attempted to kill Jesus but failed. Later that day, Jesus again taught the multitudes in the temple. He compared himself to a good shepherd and said, "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. . . . Therefore doth my Father love me. . . . This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:15, 17-18). These words immediately caused a division among the Jews. Some rejected him as one having "a devil" (v. 20), while others wondered if he truly might be the Son of God. When Jesus returned to Jerusalem several months later for the feast of Dedication, the Jews besought him to tell them plainly if he was the Christ. Jesus did not shy away from their request. He declared before all gathered in the temple in Solomon's porch, "My Father . . . is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them [my sheep] out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one" (John 10:29-30). Again Jewish leaders attempted to stone Jesus for what they considered to be his blasphemy. He responded by reiterating his Sonship of the Father (see vv. 32, 37-38). Jesus escaped from Jerusalem, crossed the River Jordan, and began to teach in the province of Perea, which borders Judea on the east. A man from the multitude approached Jesus and asked what he should do to obtain eternal life. Jesus explained how difficult it is for a rich person to enter God's kingdom. When his disciples marveled at his teaching, he said, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of my Father!" (JST Mark 10:22). Again, Jesus taught plainly that it was God, his Father, who would grant eternal life. Just before closing his public ministry, Jesus once more emphasized the difference between his relationship with God the Father and the relationship all others have with him. A group of Greek proselytes to Judaism who had traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover wanted to see Jesus. He met them and promised, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour" (John 12:26). Those assembled then heard a voice as thunder from heaven as a witness of the truth of his sayings. Declarations of His Divine Messiahship In addition to teaching his divine Sonship, Jesus identified himself as the fulfillment of the messianic predictions made by the ancient prophets to the children of Israel. No greater prophetic figure existed in Jewish tradition and literature than the Messiah. The Messiah was the focus of Jewish hopes for national deliverance and represented the highest glory of Israel. Frequently Jesus plainly declared that he was the promised Messiah. Jesus opened his Galilean ministry in Nazareth by declaring his messiahship. Word of Jesus' miracles in Jerusalem had spread rapidly, and many friends and acquaintances stood in the synagogue on the Sabbath to hear him speak. As all eyes focused on him, the Lord took the prophetic books into his hands and read aloud Isaiah 61:1-2. These words were familiar to them, beautiful words of hope concerning the long-awaited Messiah. Jesus closed the book and said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21). Jesus' declaration was unmistakable: he was the Messiah. His hometown acquaintances were so angered that they "rose up and thrust him out of the city" (v. 29). At the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, Jesus responded to accusations of his enemies by invoking the recorded words of the prophets to substantiate his claim of being the Messiah: "Search the scriptures; . . . they are they which testify of me. . . . For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5:39, 46-47). Back in Galilee, Jesus amassed a tremendous following after feeding the five thousand. He taught them his messianic identity by saying, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard . . . cometh unto me" (John 6:45). He was thus fulfilling a prophecy of Isaiah (probably 54:13). When Jesus returned to Jerusalem for the feast of the Tabernacles, he quoted a messianic prophecy (possibly Isaiah 12:3 or 55:1), teaching those in the temple his real identity. "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38). Jesus' candid declaration caused many people to proclaim, "Of a truth this is the Prophet" (v. 40). Others exclaimed, "This is the Christ" (v. 41). A great division arose among the people. Jesus had so powerfully asserted his divine identity that certain officers who had been sent by the chief priests to arrest Jesus returned without him, saying, "Never man spake like this man" (v. 46). Jesus testified of his messiahship frequently during the final weeks of his mortal ministry. In Perea, just before his final and triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus taught a great multitude about discipleship. Some, seeking to justify themselves, claimed that they were disciples of Moses and the prophets. Jesus responded, "Ye know not Moses, neither the prophets; for if ye had known them, ye would have believed on me; for to this intent they were written. For I am sent that ye might have life" (JST Luke 14:36). Jesus taught that a disciple of Jesus could not give preeminence to ancient prophets, for the Messiah was greater than them all; he was the source of everlasting life. Still in Perea, Jesus taught many parables to a crowd of disciples, publicans, sinners, and Pharisees. The Pharisees ridiculed him when he finished. "Then said Jesus unto them, The law and the prophets testify of me; yea, and all the prophets who have written, even until John, have foretold of these days. . . . And why teach ye the law, and deny that which is written; and condemn him whom the Father hath sent to fulfil the law, that ye might all be redeemed?" (JST Luke 16:17, 20). The Pharisees had insisted that the Law and the Prophets would save them. But Jesus countered their claim by stating that redemption was in him alone. As the Messiah, he was both the fulfillment of the words of the prophets and the fulfillment of the Law of Moses. As Jesus taught in the temple during the final week of his mortal ministry, he publicly lamented the fate of Jerusalem's inhabitants who would not believe in him. "Ye shall not see me henceforth, and know that I am he of whom it is written by the prophets" (JST Matthew 23:39). He added that he would fulfill the messianic words of Psalm 118:26 by one day returning to Jerusalem in great glory with his holy angels. Declarations of His Divine Rights and Powers Jesus spoke of his own identity in a third manner by teaching publicly about his divine rights and power. He claimed to possess powers the Almighty himself had claimed—powers and rights ascribed to God by the writers of the holy scriptures. By asserting himself to be the source of these rights and powers, he claimed to be God. Shortly after beginning his Galilean ministry, Jesus taught and healed many people in a crowded house. A man with palsy could not enter through the door, so his friends lowered him into the house through an opening in the roof. Knowing that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting nearby, Jesus addressed the afflicted man: "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" (Luke 5:20-21). Jesus responded simply, "That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, I said it" (JST Luke 5:24). After Jesus had called Matthew to be his disciple, Jesus ate supper at Matthew's house with Matthew's fellow tax collectors. The Pharisees saw that as irregular and suspect conduct and began questioning Jesus: "Why will ye not receive us with our baptism, seeing we keep the whole law? But Jesus said unto them, Ye keep not the law. If ye had kept the law, ye would have received me, for I am he who gave the law" (JST Matthew 9:18-19). The Jews revered the Law of Moses almost above all else. Now when Jesus claimed to have given this law to the Israelites, there was no mistaking his meaning. Jesus claimed to be that Jehovah who had spoken to Moses from Mount Sinai. Furthermore, Jesus asserted his right to interpret the meaning of the law and to instruct them on how it should be practiced. Jesus claimed to be divine by identifying himself as the author of the law of the Sabbath. The Pharisees confronted him after he healed a man in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. As Jesus' disciples were foraging for food in a wheat field, the Pharisees asked, "Why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?" (Mark 2:24). Using again the title "Son of Man" to refer to himself, Jesus answered, "The Son of Man made the Sabbath day, therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath" (JST, Mark 2:27). The Jews had developed sacred traditions regarding the Sabbath. Certain scriptures taught that the Sabbath came from God and was an everlasting sign between Jehovah and Israel (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 16:23-29; 20:11; 31:16-17; Ezekiel 20:12, 21). Jesus claimed that because he had originated the Sabbath, he now had the right to decide how his disciples would keep the Sabbath. Another divine power claimed by Jesus was that of sustainer of Israel. Beside the Sea of Galilee, Jesus fed five thousand men and their families from five loaves and two fishes. When the multitudes later desired more food, they asked the Lord for bread from heaven. Jesus responded, "The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world" (John 6:33). When they clamored, "Give us this bread," Jesus testified, "I am the bread of life" (vv. 34-35). Manna was "angels' food" (Psalm 78:25), and its daily appearance in the wilderness was a long-remembered symbol of God's mercy toward them. But Moses had taught them that manna, or physical bread alone, could not save them (Deuteronomy 8:3). The multitudes already understood that Jesus offered himself as the spiritual source for their sustenance for eternal life, but now he claimed an all-inclusive sustaining power to himself. Jesus used the messianic symbolism in the Jewish feasts to make two powerful declarations concerning himself. Elder Bruce R. McConkie writes of the Savior's teachings in Jerusalem at the feast of the Tabernacles: "Jesus chose one of the most solemn and dramatic moments of Jewish worship. On each of the eight days of the feast of Tabernacles, as most authorities agree, it was custom, for the priest as part of the temple service, to take water in golden vessels from the stream of Siloam, which flowed under the temple-mountain, and pour it upon the altar. Then the words of Isaiah were sung: 'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.' (Isa. 12:3.) And it was at this very moment of religious climax that Jesus stepped forth and offered draughts of living refreshment." 4 Jesus fearlessly proclaimed, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37). Like bread, water was precious to the Jews in their desert homeland. Therefore, it too had taken on figurative meaning. Isaiah compared the pouring of water to the pouring of God's spirit upon Israel's seed (see Isaiah 44:3), and God had promised to cleanse his people of their sins: "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you" (Ezekiel 36:25). Jesus' solemn invitation could not have been mistaken. Jesus openly was laying claim to the power to sustain and cleanse his people. The feast of Tabernacles also included a ceremonial lighting of the temple's great golden lamps. Jesus once more declared who he was, saying, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). His hearers knew that the Messiah would be a light to the world (see Isaiah 60:1-2) and that King David had said of the Messiah, "The Lord is my light and my salvation" (Psalm 27:1). As Israel's light Jesus claimed to possess the divine source of knowledge and salvation. Angered by his assertion, the leading Jews threatened to kill him for blasphemy. Jesus responded, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he . . . but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things" (John 8:28). A group of Jews continued to debate with Jesus about his identity. They began to discuss Abraham, the father of the Hebrew race and one of most revered men of all time to the Jews. To his combatants' claims of special parentage from Abraham, Jesus simply said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (v. 58). This claim to be superior to Abraham so inflamed those Jews that immediately "took they up stones to cast at him" (v. 59). Clearly, they understood his allusion: "I am Jehovah, the Great I Am." Before leaving Jerusalem and the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus used one more symbolic image of his divine powers in his public teaching. Elder McConkie explains further: "Among the pastoral people of Palestine, service as a pastor or shepherd was one of the most honorable and respected vocations. Accordingly, many of the prophets had used the shepherd's vocation as a basis for teaching great spiritual truths and as a means of foretelling the coming of the Messiah who would be the Good Shepherd." 5 Jesus taught the multitudes in the temple, "I am the door of the sheep" (John 10:7). He continued, saying, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:14). He was himself the fulfillment of David's messianic psalm—Psalm 23—and of Isaiah's prophetic words, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd" (Isaiah 40:11). He had power to care for and watch over all his "sheep," for how could a man claim to be King David's "shepherd?" A great debate arose among the people. Jesus withdrew from them, leaving them to decide for themselves. In Bethany, the Lord both asserted and demonstrated his divine power. While Jesus was ministering in Perea, he was told of the death of his good friend Lazarus. By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus was met by Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, and many of the Jews who had come to comfort the family. To the grieving Martha, Jesus said, "Thy brother shall rise again. . . . I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:23, 25-26). Jesus stood before the tomb, and in a majestic and dramatic demonstration of his power said, "Lazarus, come forth" (v. 43). Lazarus' emergence from the tomb confirmed that Jesus truly held power over life and death. Following his arrest, Jesus was taken before a council of chief priests and rulers of the Jews, the Sanhedrin. They had already conspired to condemn him to death, but after finding no evidence against him, "the high priest asked him, . . . Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" (Mark 14:61). Jewish leaders knew that Jesus had openly declared his divinity over and over again among the people, but they wanted to have a clear charge against him. One more blasphemous statement from his lips, they knew, could unanimously condemn him to death. Jesus then closed his public ministry the same way he began it, by declaring his identity: "Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (v. 62). In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Jacob prophesied, "It must needs be expedient that Christ . . . should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him—for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God" (2 Nephi 10:3). How was it possible for this nation to kill their God? Perhaps it was because he said he was "THE KING OF THE JEWS" (Mark 15:26). Conclusions We live in a day when many doubt or do not know who Jesus was. Some believe that Jesus did not know who he was or, if he did, he never clearly told others during his mortal ministry. Some accept the divinity of Christ but say that Jesus left the affirmation of his identity to John the Baptist and his own disciples. Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said: "When the gospel was first restored, the pulpits of this land were aflame with the testimony of Jesus, the divine Son of God and Savior of the world . . . Today, our missionaries cannot make that assumption. There are still many God-fearing people who testify of the divinity of Jesus Christ. But there are many more—even in the formal ranks of Christianity—who doubt his existence or deny his divinity. As I see the deterioration in religious faith that has happened in my own lifetime, I am convinced that we who are members of his Church need to be increasingly valiant in the testimony of Jesus." 6 Elder Oaks pleaded for the Saints to bear witness of Jesus Christ: "Latter-day Saints can become so preoccupied with their own agendas that we can forget to witness and testify of Christ. I quote from a recent letter I received from a member in the United States. He described what he heard in his fast and testimony meeting: " 'I sat and listened to seventeen testimonies and never heard Jesus mentioned or referred to in any way. I thought I might be in [some other denomination], but I suppose not because there were no references to God either . . . " 'The following Sunday I again attended church. I sat through Priesthood lesson, a Gospel Doctrine lesson, and seven Sacrament meeting speakers, and never once heard the name of Jesus or any reference to him.' " 7 The Lord's public declarations not only assure us that Jesus knew who he was but they also set the example for all Christians to likewise testify with great power and conviction concerning his divinity. We testify of Jesus by expressing our beliefs that he is the actual son of the Father in the flesh, thereby being the only person ever to walk this earth qualified to atone for sins and resurrect himself so that all mankind might be saved; and that he has received all power from the Father and represents the Father in all things pertaining to this earth. We testify of Jesus by affirming that we believe that he was God before he came to this earth; that he is the creator of universes and this world, "the Father of heaven and earth" (Mosiah 3:8); that he is Jehovah, the god of the Old Testament; that his premortal, mortal, and resurrected ministries, as seen and prophesied by holy prophets, will all be fulfilled as he has said; that he is the true messiah; and that he will yet come a second time with his angels in great glory. Finally, we testify of Jesus by referring to the symbolic images that Jesus used—that he is the bread of life, the living water, the door to the sheepfold, the good shepherd, and the light, life, and law of mankind. Footnotes 1. Richard N. Ostling, in Time, 15 Aug. 1988, pp. 37-42. The "cynic" theory is a variation of the sage theme. It says that Jesus was a product of the cross-cultural factors in Galilee, mixing ancient Greek philosophy, Roman influences and Jewish thought, and that his message was concerned with the general unnatural and unjust relationships among people of different social classes (Time, p. 39). The "prophet" theory views Jesus as a stern prophet who predicted the coming judgment of God, and that he had a keen sense of mission and knew that his death would fulfill it. It sees Jesus as clearly influenced by John the Baptist's preaching of repentance and perhaps by the apocalyptic warnings of the Essenes (Time, pp. 39-40). The "rabbi" theory says that Jesus was a rabbinical genius whose teachings were in keeping with the liberal Jewish scholarship of his day. It says that Jesus represents a humanistic trend in Judaism and sought a Judaism purified of hatred (Time, p. 40). The "classic" theory asserts that no single image of Jesus will do, and that Jesus must be seen as both apocalyptic prophet, reformist sage, a purifier of Judaism, and a builder of a new order (Time, p. 41). 3. Church News, 20 Aug. 1988, p. 4. 5. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:483.
© 2004 Deseret Book.
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