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We've thus far considered the fact that ultimately all world religions are exclusive, and we've also considered a couple of ways we could wrestle with the claims of Christ. If Christ is the only way, we must see the reasons why this is the case. What is so unique about Jesus? Today, we will begin to consider His uniqueness as we examine His understanding and assessment of the human state.
It's been said that human beings are a chimera. If you are familiar with the mythological creature, you'll know that this beast has the heads and body parts of a various animals. The concept being communicated is that we are multi-faceted, that there are many realities that play together into what it means to be human. One of these is the longing to be understood. This reality may shape us more than any other piece of the human equation. When we are young, we seek out friends who will let us spend time with them and play with them. If we are unable to find these kinds of friends, we feel isolated and such childhood traumas have impacted the adult life of many people in significant ways. When we move on into the teenage years, one of the most anxiety-causing experiences we can have is to be isolated. Authors Andy Stanley and Stuart Hall once wrote that teenagers don't choose their friends - their friends choose them. The longing to fit in, the longing to be accepted defines adolescence. Whether that group is considered cool or not is often of little consequence as long as the person finds a place where he or she can feel accepted - nerd, jock, popular, goth - what matters is that some group says "yes" to a young person. It is no coincidence that many of the tragic school violence massacres were committed by people who felt alone or shunned. The most well-known case is probably Columbine High School where the killers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, just prior to killing 12 students and 1 teacher, expressed their desire for retribution for all the wrongs committed against them by "others", by the groups into which they were not given entrance. While yes, this is a dramatic example, the point remains - young people desire to be understood and accepted.
That desire does not change when we become adults. Consider the number of adults who spend hours in bars and on-line in discussion with others. Why? Because we desire to be known and accepted. Think about why we shy away in conversations when it comes to sharing about finances or income. I am firmly convinced that a majority of our awkwardness around the topic of money is because we connect money to our worth. Tell someone how little you make and you risk them not accepting you because you are not up to par for their standards. While I doubt many would share this so boldly or so directly, I believe it is a motivating factor for our unease with the topic of money - we don't want to find out that we are not worthy of acceptance. We can also consider some of the reasons for divorce. People often married with the thought that at last they would be understood by at least this one person. But after years of miscommunication and feeling like a spouse does not understand, the most viable option often seems to be to end the relationship and to look for another relationship where one can be truly understood. Far on the other end of life, anecdotal evidence has shown the immediate negative impact that losing a spouse has on the elderly. It is as if a husband who has spent decades with his wife begins to physically and psychologically shut down as soon as she dies - having been known and understood for so long, having shared companionship and acceptance, it is as if the soul begins to wither at the thought of that being lost. We long to be understood and accepted.
In the person of Christ, we find unconditional love in a way that humans cannot experience from one another. Almost all love on earth is conditional. As a new father, I can understand if someone might argue that a parent's love for a child is unconditional, but in the vast majority of cases, there is a breaking point for love, a point where one thinks, "I will not give love or acceptance anymore unless...". And in the day-to-day experience of life, we so often give love to others with the expectation of receiving love in return. We rarely interact with someone who accepts us with TRULY no strings attached.
But in Christ, we find this. A classic passage about this is found in John 4 where Jesus interacts with a woman at a well. This woman (we discover as we read the story and as we understand the historical context of the situation) has been isolated from her fellow townspeople. She is drawing water in the heat of the day, most likely because she desires to avoid the jeers and glares of the other women who draw their water in the morning and the evening. We read that she has had many lovers, and that even the one who she now has is not her husband but the next man in long line of broken relationships. On top of all this, she is a Samaritan, a people-group that is seen as half-breeds, as being below the Jewish people.
But when Jesus arrives on the scene, He offers her dignity and acceptance. While it would have been considered unacceptable for Him to drink from the jar of this woman (and even more so since he was a rabbi), He asks her for a drink. When she tries to avoid His tender questioning, He gently moves her toward the truth. But He never says to her, "You must do X to truly interact with God". His subtle challenge to her is that she acknowledge her broken state and allow God to heal her. Christ knows that she lives in a world (as we do today) where people are quick to judge and isolate one another, and so He speaks to her with both kindness and conviction. He offers her true life through Him. He knows that all humans want to be understood, and through their interaction, she sees that this prophet truly understands her.
And lest we think that it is too much speculation to think she feels accepted, we read that her reaction is as follows in John 4:28-29 - "Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” Imagine what must have been stirred in her soul to go to the people who also knew everything she did (and did not look kindly on it) and to tell them to come and see this man who might be the Messiah. Only someone who had experienced a radical form of acceptance would speak to her neighbors with seemingly no care whether they accepted her or not. She had experienced, perhaps for the first time, acceptance from The One who made her.
Christ stands out in His unique ability and desire to accept those with whom He chose to interact. I find no other world religion that offers this acceptance and understanding in the one who claims to be God. Gods of power, of destruction, of mercy - yes. But the very nature of Christ is to accept and to understand. Hebrews 4:14-16 reads, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Christ alone has the ability to understand and accept us and our humanity because He Himself experienced it.
-tC
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