Basics of Faith II - Jesus is Special.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009. What is the basic part of the Christian faith? Without doubt in the center of Christian faith is Jesus - the person called “the Christ”. Christians are named after him. He is the founder of faith, he has started it all. But he is also the content of faith. He is the subject of faith. He is the one Christians belive in. “Believe in God and believe in me.” said Jesus according to John 14,1.

How do you best describe the thing with Jesus? Do we start with some basic principles, some dogma, some sentences which summarize it all? When I think about the role of Jesus, a story comes to my mind usually which somehow describes it best - but without any particular principles. It is the story of some Samaritan woman who Jesus met near the town of Sychar in Samaria, when sitting next to a well. This woman talked to Jesus … and after some exchange about water and her life, she realizes that there is something special around Jesus. He is not just an ordinary person, he is somehow more, though it seems difficult to comprehend it right away. Here, when she asked him for more, for living water, he spoke about the mess of her life, about her past, about her present state and about the future.

Jesus is special, come and have a look. Come and find out yourself. That is what happened in this story. The woman who had the encounter with Jesus went back to her village and said to the people: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” (John 4: 29-30)

When we talk about Jesus today we cannot do much more. We can explain principles. We can elaborate long theories about Jesus. But all this will not give you or anyone faith. Faith can only come if you go and get to know him. You need to go and meet Jesus.

Christian faith is not primarily a theory. It is not some set of rules. It is not a set of statements about the world or about God. Christian faith is not primarily a statement about the future or about the origins. It is not something mainly intellectual, not something mainly emotional, not something purely spiritual. Christian faith comes when people meet Jesus and realize, that there is something different with him. Without him there is no faith. If he is not in the center, there is no faith. He is the one who makes the difference. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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