Just A Good Human Teacher and Nothing More?

Myth: "Jesus might have been a good, moral man with some great ideas, but he was not the son of God."

This idea has gained a pretty strong foothold in modern culture. It has a lot of appeal. It permits us to follow some of Jesus' most clear and simple teachings without getting involved in the mess of worshipping him and declaring Him the "only" way. We can, as He taught, love our neighbors and give generously to the poor, but let's not go overboard with some messiah complex, right? Sounds appealing, doesn't it? On the surface, this seems like a viable option. We can take what we want from this wise teacher while steering clear of the controversial items. 

"I don't care for his messiah thing"

Can we do this in fairness to Him? Try to forget for a moment that Jesus lived 2,000 years ago and try to think how you might feel about someone at your work who had some interesting, radical ideas. However, at one point in the conversation, he happens to casually mention that he is the Son of God. At this point, what is the likelihood that you will think, "I don't care for that 'son of God' stuff but I like some of his ideas!" Nonsense! You would decide right then and there that he is a scam artist with some sort of agenda, because obviously he knows he is not the son of God. Or, perhaps he really thinks he is, in which case he is flat-out crazy. But surely, you wouldn't go around saying to others, "That guy has some good ideas, but I don't care for his messiah thing." If he's a liar or a lunatic, he cannot be a "good man" and we should not care for anything that comes out of his mouth. 

Lewis' Trilemma

So why does Jesus get special treatment? Why do we exalt him to the level of "good man" and "moral teacher" when anyone else who said what he said would be labeled insane or a con-man? We shouldn't - we should give Jesus the same treatment. Certainly in his own day, no one felt indifferent towards Him. His followers worshipped him, while others thought he was a heretic who deserved to die. There was no middle ground then, and there should be none now. We really only have three choices - he is a liar, a lunatic, or he really was the Son of God. As C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, 

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him for a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

All or Nothing 

The point of all of this is to get you to really think about Jesus and not dismiss Him as something less than He is or something that He cannot be. The greatest disservice you can do to Jesus is to pass Him off as somewhat important. That, He cannot be. He is either completely irrelevant - a madman or conman who should be ignored and forgotten, or He is the Savior and Lord of all mankind who deserves your complete devotion and sacrifice. You owe it to yourself to decide between these two alternatives so that regardless of the outcome, your decision will be informed and you will not be deceived. Let this notion of Jesus as a "good man" and "human teacher" finally die away for good.

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