When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. (Mark 2:5-7, 10-12, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Exactly! But rather than conclude that Jesus was God incarnate, they condemned His as a blasphemer. Those really are the only two choices. Blasphemer or God, although they might have also claimed He was out of His mind. Whatever, they chose wrong.
Today, if people acknowledge that He was an actual person of history, which is pretty hard to not acknowledge given the wealth of evidence, some offer a fourth choice. He was a good, well-meaning teacher, but He was not God. But as C.S. Lewis points out, that is not a valid choice at all. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh. If He was just a man, He could be neither good nor well-meaning.
My Advice – We face the same choice today as the Israelites of old. “If [choosing] the [Christ as Lord] seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day [what] you will [choose], whether [blasphemer or madman]. But as for me and my household, we will [choose Christ as] Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, NIV 1984). These are our only choices. We must not patronize Him by claiming that He was merely a good and well-meaning teacher.
The Brew Is A Musing 