As Paul recognised, there are many apparent absurdities in the Christian claim about Jesus; absurd, that is, from a certain point of view. Paul says that the message of Christ crucified was a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:23). But it was nevertheless God’s way of salvation. When John wrote his letter (mid 90s AD) there was growing pressure to adapt the Gospel to Greek thought and this inevitably involved a denial of Jesus’ divine sonship. The problem with those who made this compromise was that they were seeking knowledge in the wrong way. They wanted to understand God by grasping the idea of God rather than being grasped by the person of God. The idea of God being incarnate in Jesus may be absurd from a logical point of view, but God transcends logic. He is nevertheless revealing himself to people in Jesus. John says that we know God because we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We are not just taught by academic learning, we know God as he teaches us from within. This is how God wants us to know him. Don’t expect that Jesus will make sense to people, but also don’t therefore be ashamed to speak about Jesus. Jesus may not make logical sense, but he meets the deepest needs of people, and he will reveal himself to those who are willing to recognise this need. Your role is not to make Jesus make sense to people but to help people realise their need for him.
Ask God to teach you and lead you by his Spirit today.
Read 1 John 2:18-27
