Session 5
Thursday: Claims and Character
From Holy Week Devotional
As we continue to journey through the events of Holy Week, it becomes clear: like Judas, we must make a choice. Who is Jesus?
Perhaps you’ve read the C.S. Lewis quote: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.” Consider just a few of Jesus’ claims in the Gospels:
- “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 (ESV)
- “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58 (ESV)
- “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18 (ESV)
- “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (ESV)
- “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35 (ESV)
- “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Luke 10:18 (ESV)
If Jesus had simply said these things and lived an ordinary, sinful life, He would indeed be a lunatic. But Jesus didn’t live like anyone else. No one, before or since, has ever made claims like this and then lived a life of sacrificial love, service, and humility. The pairing of His claims with His character is what makes Him so compelling—even to us today. There’s simply no one like Jesus.
Imagine if you had all the authority and power of God behind you. You would probably let it go to your head. Human nature makes us want to wield power selfishly, saying, “I’m God—serve me!” But Jesus does something entirely different. In John 13:3, we see that He knows He had come from God and was going back to God—so He washes feet.
Because He grasped His ultimate identity and inheritance, He had nothing to prove. He only had a heart to humble Himself and serve. Philippians 2:8 brings it all into focus: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus: fully man and fully God. Jesus: humble enough to wash feet. Jesus: humble enough to die for us. That’s what it looks like to live out of your ultimate identity.
Journal: What if you were 100% sure of your God-given identity? How would your thoughts change? How would your actions be different? Ask God to show you who He says you are.