Jesus: Jerk, or Savior? Honestly Confronting the Galilean Carpenter

Written by Brian D. Wilson

A friend recently told me at a dinner party, "I think Jesus was a great moral teacher, but this stuff about him being God or God's Son is ridiculous."

I wasted no time in my reply. "If Jesus really was a mere man as you say then he was no great moral teacher at all. In fact he was a big jerk."

This sent the room into gasps of indignation. The irony was that I was the only Christian at the dinner table, while the other guests were either your typical Southern Californians with a strong interest in spirituality but none in religion, or atheists. And yet I was dead serious.

The Only Ticket in Town

Imagine the situation. Jesus is having the Passover dinner with his disciples and engages in one of the most humble acts ever recorded. He gets out a towel, fills a cistern with water, and begins to wash the disciple's feet.

Then comes the kicker. Judas leaves to betray Jesus while Jesus tells the other disciples of his imminent arrest. He says that he must leave, referring to his inevitable crucifixion. The disciples become confused prompting Thomas to ask, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5). Jesus replies, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

You want a human teacher, fine, but an unstable lunatic who says he is the only way to heaven comes with the package, and that is the problem. Often those who quote Jesus have never studied him. They get warm fuzzies reading that Yeshua washed the disciple's feet, but ignore the elephant in the room--his claim to be the only way to God.