IN SEARCH OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS

Sermon Summary, Jan 3, 2016, “In Search of the Historical Jesus”

Thomas Jefferson, a product of the “Enlightenment,” was a follower of Jesus, but could not accept the “supernatural.”  He rejected angels, miracles, anything that beyond the common understanding of nature.  To Jefferson, Jesus was human, but with wonderful teachings.  He used a razor to excise the supernatural from the gospel stories and then published it as “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.”  It begins with the journey to Bethlehem (no angels, visitations, or shepherds), and ends with the stone rolled in front of the tomb (no resurrection). 

At least he believed Jesus is real.  Atheist and agnostic internet posts would insist otherwise; however the preponderance of  historians believe Jesus lived and walked among us.  Josephus and Tacitus, first century historians tell his story,  The question for us becomes, in two parts, “Do our present day Gospels accurately represent what was written in the first century?” and two, “Does what was written reflect who Jesus is?”

First, we have 24,000 New Testament manuscripts in various languages written in the first millennia.  By translating and comparing came from various language trees, we can determine what the source stories were.  In addition we have fragments of some that were made within 10 to 20 years of the original documents that are identical to what we read today.

Second, the Gospels, written in the late first century were written on the shoulders of the oral and preaching tradition that began immediately after Jesus ascended.  Pre-gospel sources existed within 10 to 20 years and were recited in the hearing of the eye-witnesses.  Most importantly, most of the storytellers and authors were persecuted and died for their stories.  As I tell you every Easter, no one dies for a lie.  Some might die for a falsehood they believe to be true, but no one knowingly dies for a lie.

Here’s our task for the next five weeks: To seek the truth. One of my favorite books is Stephan Carter’s Integrity in which he says the hard work of integrity is discernment.  We can fervently believe something and be dead wrong.  Discernment is hard work.  In so doing, remember, we have evidence outside the Bible that Jesus lived; and the authors of the stories of Jesus were willing to die for what they knew to be true.

Rosemary and I have a friend who faith has been challenged.  Yet rather than setting it aside, he is actively striving to restore it.  He writes, “It is good to actively question and to seek the truth.”

We are seeking to answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?”  When we do, what are we going to do with him?