St. Bartholomew's United Church (ELCA)

Jesus Through the Centuries

Throughout the centuries, the church and the world have highlighted different aspects of who Jesus is. In his book, Jesus Through The Centuries, Jaroslav Pelikan discusses some of these.

One of the ways that we see Jesus is as the Teacher. Jesus was the person sent by God to tell humanity how our relationship with the world - and with God - really works. As the Teacher, Jesus reveals to us how society is very interdependent - the rich have an obligation to care for the poor. (Lk 16:14-31, Lk 12:15-21) As the Teacher, Jesus also shows us how God’s grace and forgiveness work quite differently than our ways of understanding people. (Lk 18:9-14) Jesus also teaches us about our sin that we often conveniently ignore (above references, John 8:2-10).

Another of the ways we see Jesus is as the Cosmic Christ. Jesus is the One who understands and has power over all of heaven and earth. Jesus is the Christ who brings all of Creation back into right relationship with God (Colossians, Rom. 5:7-17). Jesus is the One, through whom the world was created - eternal and transcendent - even as He walked in a human body. (John 1:1-18) Jesus is the beginning and the end of all time - all of reality stands in relation to Him. (Rev. 1:1-20)

Jesus is also viewed as the Universal Man - the height of the human potential. The humanists who prefer to see Jesus as more human and God, admit to Jesus’ amazing abilities - but they attribute this to simply being the highest perfection of the standard human. Developmental psychologists such as Erik Erickson, Fowler, Piaget, and Robert Kegan also see Jesus as the height of humanity and its spiritual development.

Another view unites the Cosmic Christ with the understanding that Jesus was the Turning Point Of History. That is, all of society has fundamentally changed since the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Society, although still shot-through with sin, is fundamentally different in that there is now a Spirit of hope and forgiveness that did not exist prior to Jesus’ ministry. In a real sense, the Kingdom of God has come to the earth through Jesus.

We also see Jesus as the King of Kings, who will rule heaven and earth. And so, Jesus will also be the Judge of all of humanity. (Matthew 25:31-46, Rev. 20:11-15) This reminds us of the temporary nature of all of the rulers and nations of the world.

We also see Jesus as the great Liberator of the poor who works in the world to create social and economic justice and equality (Lk 1:52-53, 4:16-21, 12:15-21, 16:14-31) There is even a branch of theology called “Liberation Theology”.

More recently, we have begun seeing Jesus as Friend. This understanding has certainly been popularized by the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus”. And it is also supported by the verses, John 15:14-15 where Jesus calls the disciples “friends”.

There are obviously many more ways to see Jesus and His role as Son of God. But it is interesting to see how we understand Jesus as so integral to so many aspects of our reality – from Creator (John 1), to Savior/Redeemer, to focal point of History, to the Wisest Teacher, to the Ultimate Human, to King of Heaven and Earth and Judge of humanity – and finally, All-Powerful and understanding and loving, Friend. All of these are ways to help us in our understanding of Jesus and to help us in our continual and growing relationship with Jesus.

It is wonderful to have such an intricate and dynamic, multifaceted understanding of Jesus, who is God above us, among us, and within us.

- Pastor Steve