JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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LUNATIC
Another possibility concerning Jesus' claims is that He was sincere but self-deceived. For
someone to think that He is God, especially in a culture that is fiercely monotheistic, and then to
tell others that their eternal destiny depends on believing in Him are the thoughts of a lunatic.
Was Jesus such a person?
The closer one looks at the life of Jesus the more difficult it is to find abnormality and
imbalance as found in deranged persons. Instead, in the person of Jesus we see the perfect
symmetry of character.
Jesus combined in Himself all of the virtues and graces that make for beauty and strength
of character. He is wonderfully balanced with neither excess nor deficiency. In Jesus' character
no strong points were obvious because there were no weak ones. He is without flaw or
contradiction. He towers far above the greatest, the noblest, and the best of men who have ever
lived.
Virtue easily degenerates into vice. Courage may degenerate into cowardice on the one
hand or rashness on the other. Purity may slip into either prudery or impurity. While the pathway
to virtue is narrow and slippery, in Jesus there was no deflection.
In speech as in silence His perfect blend of character was displayed. He never spoke
when it would have been wiser to remain silent. He never kept silent when He should have
spoken. Neither mercy nor judgment prevailed at the expense of the other, but blended in all His
words and actions. Exact truth and infinite love united in His winsome personality, for He
always spoke the truth in love.
His blistering words and severe denunciations (e.g. Mt 23) were joined with tears. He
displayed sympathy without surrendering principle. His inner strength never degenerated into
mere obstinacy. He manifested the prudence of the serpent and the simplicity, sensitivity, and
gentleness of the dove.
Although He was tender-hearted He was not weakly sentimental. Mercy and justice,
tenderness and toughness met and were harmonized in the character of Jesus. In His use of the
whip with the money-changers we see Jesus' moral indignation and even physical bravery.
Jesus showed uncompromising frankness as He called people to follow Him by warning
them of the cost of discipleship. He never concealed the call to cross-bearing and death to self to
gain a disciple. No one was ever tricked into His mission and ministry. Every person who was
challenged to join Him was given an opportunity to count the cost. He was not looking for "yesmen,"
but for devoted followers who intelligently thought through what it meant to leave their
former way of life to join Him.