Lord, Liar, or Lunatic

John 14:6–"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

In C.S. Lewis' classic work Mere Christianity, he makes the statement that there are only three possibilites for Jesus: either He is the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic.  This phrase proposition comes to mind when I read this rather radical declaration from Jesus.

There is no getting around it.  People can talk ill of Christians and they can provide countless proofs of the Christian camp overstepping their bounds, behaving lovelessly or hypocritically; however, the situation remains: Jesus.

We cannot miss this vital point.  He is the heart of Christianity.  If you want to know what a film is about, you can watch the preview and get some critiques from trusted friends, but until you see it for yourself you have no basis for review yourself.

Jesus is it.  Coming to grips with Him is the very essence of humanity just as it is the very fullness of God.  To put it mildly, Jesus made some outlandish claims about Himself.  These claims form the basis of Christianity.  The claims can be ignored, to be sure, just as a fire alarm can be ignored until one passes out from smoke inhalation.  Yet, the wiser thing by far would be to address the proclamations, assess the evidence and come to a conclusion.

Lewis, the master that he was, arranges it so acutely.  Either Jesus is Lord, a liar, or a lunatic.  And if He is the latter two then the Christian truly is to be the most pitied and gullible wretch of humanity.  But if the former is the truth, then creation is to be reckoned by it.  In fact, if Jesus is Lord then the whole of life will be transformed by virtue of His Lordship.  This alone is enough to warrant inquiry.