I travel often on business and this week was no exception. After a busy day and a late dinner, I found myself chatting with the woman seated beside me. The conversation turned to a spiritual life, as it seems to do often around me, and she described her growing up process as a true California Bay area girl. She was not raised with any knowledge of religion and turned to Buddhism–talking about chanting while facing a blank wall. Then she liked the mind-body connection of Yoga and turned to Hinduism. When I told her I was a member of a United Methodist congregation, she suddenly asked the crucial question, “Who is Jesus?” Unfortunately, she also has a touch of ADD and before I could say anything turned to jump in a conversation elsewhere. But the question is crucial–just who is Jesus?
What would you say if someone asked you? I try to be sensitive to where the person is in a faith journey. I meet many, many people with no religious upbringing or background. You can’t answer in formulaic phrases. You must answer from experience in order to connect. Enough books have been written where the author speculates about who Jesus is to fill a small library. I’ve read some of them. But the best thing I’ve seen that helped me explain comes from Hebrews where the writer refers to Jesus as the founder and pioneer of our faith.
I could have said, “He’s the Son of God” and stopped there. But that won’t mean very much to many people. But to say Jesus was perfectly full of God’s Spirit, and through a real relationship with him, I have learned to be full of God’s Spirit, too (maybe a little short of perfectly full, but you get the picture).
She’s a business associate whom I will see several times a year, and as long as I don’t do something stupid to ruin her view of me, I’ll have many opportunities to gently show and tell her who Jesus is. I’m pretty clear in my mind and experience. How about you? Could you answer the question in terms that someone with no faith can understand? Add a comment, I’d love to collect a bunch of answers. I seldom have the only right one.
Tags: Christianity, Spirituality
Faith Venture 
April 22, 2008 at 12:08 am |
Hmm, let’s see…
He’s the Son of God, for sure, but you’re right–if your friend has no concept (or a faulty concept) of who God is, that could be useless or even dangerous.
He is also the founder of my faith, but again, it’s hard to tell what point of reference your friend is coming from.
He’s my Lord and Savior (how do you say that without using Christianese?). He is my Master (sounds weird). He is the reason for the hope I have.
Actually, I don’t think there’s an effective one-sentence answer to this one. But here’s what I’ve found.
Seekers (for lack of a better term–I hate using us-and-them language, but find it difficult to come up with terms that don’t sound that way) usually want to know one thing: What can Jesus do for me? And there are two ways to answer this question.
First, there’s your testimony. Now, some people have amazing testimonies complete with peals of thunder and miraculous signs and wonders. Then there’s mine. Your testimony might not speak to your friend if she can’t relate to where you were at the time you encountered Jesus. But maybe you know someone who’s story would be a better fit. You could recount that person’s testimony instead of your own… maybe not as powerful as a first-hand account, but it may be your best bet. Just make sure all the Christianese has been translated out of it.
Then, there’s the advice my 6th grade English teacher gave me when encouraging my desire to write: show, don’t tell. The fact is, we are all part of the Body of Christ not only because we are all useful and necessary members of an organism called The Church (with a capital “C”), but also because we are all Jesus’ preferred method of blessing others on this earth. When recently discussing evangelism with the members of my small group, the term “show, don’t tell” popped to mind: don’t tell people about Christ; show him to them.
Anyway, that’s my short (yikes) response to your post.
Blessings, Robert