Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Worldview, Meet Jesus

My husband, our two-year-old daughter, and I went shopping to pick up odds and ends for the house. A young couple walked out of the store just as we were entering. The young man was sporting a very creative hairstyle—a Mohawk of bright green spikes standing almost a foot off his scalp. My daughter was fixated on the young man until he was out of view. Then, she turned to me with a very puzzled look on her face and asked, “Mama, is that a dinosaur?”

She had never seen anything like this before so she could not make sense of what she was seeing. In all she had experienced or learned from family, friends, books, television, etc., the only creature she had ever seen with green spikes was—a dinosaur. In my daughter’s worldview, the identification of the young man with a dinosaur made perfect sense.

We all have our own view of the world based on what we see in the world. Our worldviews mature as we get older. As they do, we’re not only able to distinguish between Mohawks and dinosaurs, but we develop a clearer understanding of who we are, what we believe, and the things we value. But it is amazing to see what happens when we, with our well-defined worldviews, encounter Jesus Christ.

In John 3, we meet a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee who knew God’s Law. He says, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus used the same things to describe Jesus as he would have used for Moses. What was Moses? He was a great teacher, the giver of laws from God on Mt. Sinai. What did Moses do? Signs! We often hear the word plagues used for what God did through Moses in Egypt. But, the word in the Old Testament is signs—signs and wonders. So, for Nicodemus to call Jesus a teacher sent from God, doing signs was, in his worldview, a very big deal. He knew there was something special about Jesus and wanted to put it into words.

All of the things that Nicodemus said about Jesus are surely true. Even today, people acknowledge many wonderful things about Jesus, calling Him a great moral teacher, a preacher of social justice, maybe even a way to heaven. Seeing green spikes they immediately say, “Dinosaur.” But these responses, although well meaning, leave us a bit underwhelmed.

In Nicodemus’ worldview, he was giving Jesus a huge compliment. But if that is all Jesus is, where does that leave Nicodemus? And where does that leave us but still in our sin and hopeless.
But, praise the Lord, Jesus is more than a great teacher, preacher, and prophet! He is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, Savior of all, forgiver of sins, and conqueror of evil! Even when we are tempted to make Him less than He really is, He is everything we need Him to be!