The proof of the pudding

When someone makes extraordinary claims as Jesus did, the obvious thing to do is to ask the question: Do the other things we know about this person support such claims or not? I suggest there are four lines of evidence that support his claims. Each, taken separately, presents a compelling argument. Together they present overwhelming evidence. I shall avoid using the word "proof"! Each person must weigh up the evidence for themselves.

His character supports his claims

In all of history has there been anyone whose character and sheer goodness has shone so brightly? Although his claims seem egocentric, his life-style was humble. He avoided publicity and refused to perform miracles to please the crowds. He taught his disciples that service to others was the mark of greatness. He left them with a servant model by washing their feet. He deliberately sought out the despised of society, yet seemed equally at ease with the upper classes.

His life exemplified his own teaching. He said to the religious Jews, "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God," and at the same time appeared immune to the praise or blame of others. He taught that "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions," and demonstrated his own freedom from the grip of material things. As far as we know, he only possessed the clothes he wore. He condemned hypocrisy in others and gave no hint of it in himself.

He told his disciples to love their enemies and he himself prayed for forgiveness for those who nailed him on the cross. His compassion for others comes through in every chapter of the story. If, as the New Testament constantly affirms, he laid down his life for the sins of the human race, to reconcile people to God, we have here an example of love that is beyond human comprehension. At every point his teaching and his example are one of a kind.

His self-assurance and courage stand out clearly, and nowhere more so than at his trial. J. B. Phillips, who translated the New Testament into modern English, says of him:

This man could be moved with compassion and could be very gentle, but...he was quite terrifyingly tough, not in a James Bond sort of way, but in the sheer strength of a unified and utterly dedicated personality.

His attitude to women was in sharp contrast to the customs of the age, indeed of any age. Dorothy Sayers, in her book Are Women Human? sums this up aptly:

They had never known a man like this Man - there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious.

He showed particular kindness towards divorced women, prostitutes and his mother.

It is interesting to note what his closest friends made of him. John declared, "We have seen his glory...full of grace and truth" (John 1:14) and "in him is no sin" ( 1 John 3:5). Peter said, "He committed no sin" (1 Peter 2:22). These were men who spent two-and-a-half years as his closest companions. Paul, who did not know Christ personally while he was on earth, but who knew many who did, said that he "had no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

His enemies sought to find fault with him over a period of two or more years. However, at his trial they could find no evidence against him, other than that of blasphemy for claiming to be the Messiah, and of insurrection for claiming to be a king. When they attacked his character they only contradicted themselves. Pilate, though allowing him to be crucified out of cowardice, declared twice, "I find no basis for a charge against him" (John 19:4,6). Even the traitor Judas confessed that he had betrayed an innocent man (Matthew 27:4).

What are we to make of such a man? The Russian author Dostoevski, in a letter to his brother, put it like this:

I want to say to you that I am a child of this age, a child of unbelief and scepticism and yet...I believe that there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, more rational, more human and more perfect than the Saviour.

Wakasa no Kami was a Japanese feudal lord. In 1854 he discovered a waterlogged copy of a Dutch translation of the Bible floating in the waves. He acquired a Chinese translation and studied it for eleven years. One day he appeared at the door of Verbeck, the first Protestant missionary to Japan, with fifty retainers in full regalia, and asked for baptism. He declared:

I cannot tell you my feelings when for the first time I read the account of the character and work of Jesus Christ. I had never seen, heard or imagined such a person. I was filled with admiration, overwhelmed with emotion and taken captive by the record of his nature and life.

Marcus Loane, biblical scholar and Archbishop, summed all this up well when he declared:

His life was marked by a moral perfection which people might try to describe but could never invent. His death was invested with a sacrificial value which could only have derived from one who was sinless. That perfection of character under every test and in every circumstance could not be the product of an imperfect group of disciples. There was no one like him: no saint or seer; no prophet or psalmist; he was unique. And the glory of the New Testament is that it shows how God sent His Son into this world that by means of him our sins may be forgiven.