Portraits of Jesus 1

Who is Jesus Christ?  If you have ever been curious about him, who he was, what he did, and how any of it affects you, the first thing you need to do is to find out who he is. 

Growing up as a child, my dad made us go to church every Sunday.  I grew up knowing about Jesus, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually knew him.  I always knew he came as a baby in a manger.  I knew he grew up and healed people and later died on the cross. I knew he rose from the grave and went back to heaven. I knew he promised to return again.  What I didn’t know was:  I didn’t know him like I knew my dad, my friends or other people.  It was more like I knew him the same as I knew any literary personality, or TV celebrity.  I knew he was real and not a figment of some ones imagination.

I didn’t fit the mold of a perfect Christian.  There were times I spent years not involved in the church world and lived life they way I wanted to.  I thought during this time about getting involved in the “church” again, but didn’t want to face the consequences.  I knew I had done things that the bible said not to do, and I didn’t want to face an angry God and his punishment for my “sins”.  I didn’t know Jesus.

So how do we learn to know Jesus the same as we know our best friend or a family member? How do we learn to know what Jesus likes, doesn’t like, what he wants and what makes him happy or sad? 

I’m going to post a series of short letters that will use the bible to and allow God to paint his own portrait of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  When I read this parable, I see the treasure as the knowledge of Jesus given to us in the bible (field).  The true Jesus, the real Jesus is hidden in bible from Genesis to Revelations.  If we search we’ll find.

For example, look at this parable in Luke:   Luke 15: 3-6  So He spoke this parable to them, saying: What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave he ninety nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 

This is a hidden treasure in the word and a beautiful portrait of Christ.  Human nature tells us, that if we had to leave our 99 and go after the one, we would be fearful for the safety of the 99, we would be angry for having to go after the one lost and we wouldn’t feel like rejoicing when we found it.  We would probably grumble and want to whip the lost one for running off and drag it back to the other 99.  But look how Christ handles this. He searches until he finds.  The sheep that ran off wasn’t looking for his redeemer, but the redeemer went looking for him/her.  Jesus rejoiced when he found the lost one.  He wasn’t angry at all he even picks the lost one up placing it on his shoulders to comfort it and carries it all the way back cheerfully.  And when he gets back, he calls all his friends to rejoice with him.  Just imagine this kind of love that Christ shows for all that belong to him, even the ones who occasionally get lost.