Week 40

There are unbelievers that make the claim that Jesus never claimed to be God. It would be either that these people simply have not read the Gospels for themselves and are simply parroting claims made by other unbelievers, or they are falsely making the claim contrary to what they’ve read, or they are still spiritually blind and unable to see the truth.

Of course, Jesus repeatedly – in many different ways – claimed to be God. One of my favorites is one we read this week.

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."

He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
(Mark 2:1-12)

Jesus even explained to His opposition, the Pharisees, that He was showing them that He was God, the only one to forgive sins. The Pharisees, steadfast in their opposition to Jesus, remained spiritually blind to the spiritual truth performed before their physical sight.



We see at the end of Mark 2 and Luke 6, Jesus made the claim again:

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
(Luke 6:1-5 & Mark 2:23-28)

Luke 6 goes on to record another:

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored.

But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
(Luke 6:6-11)


The Sabbath observation was given in the Commandments given to Moses on the tablets of stone. The Levitical Laws also addressed Sabbath observances. The Israelites were to gather twice as much manna on the sixth day so that they did not gather any on the Sabbath. We read in Numbers 15:32-36 of a man found gathering wood on the Sabbath was condemned to death. For a mere man claiming to be Lord of the Sabbath would have been extremely blasphemous – a death sentence under the law.

In 2 weeks, we will see the Pharisees’ opposition to Jesus continue as we read John 9. In that, we will see Jesus give sight to a man born blind. The Pharisees then call the man and his parents before them to investigate this miracle. While his parents, fearful of expulsion from worshipping in the temple deferred the questions to their son, the man defied the Pharisees because of Jesus’ healing him. After the Pharisees expelled him from the Temple, Jesus approached him once again.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when He found him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."

Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
(John 9:35-41)

These are just but a few instances where Jesus clearly made the claim of being God. It was because of these claims that He was arrested, brought before Pilot, and crucified.

Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill him.
Jesus said, "At my Father's direction I have done many things to help the people. For which one of these good deeds are you killing me?"
They replied, "Not for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, have made yourself God."
(John 10:31-33)

The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."
(Joh 19:7)


The Pharisee leaders who were the spiritual leaders for the Jewish people remained spiritually blind to the end.

As C. S. Lewis observed in his book “Mere Christianity”, and Josh McDowell echoes in his book “More Than a Carpenter”, a man who made the claims Jesus made would have to be either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.

(If you are reading this and are undecided, read one or both of those two books mentioned above for a clearly defined case on why Jesus IS Lord.)