Programme 2: A Case of Identity

Priestland s Progress

Gerald walks around looking at different pictures of Jesus; Jesus of history, out‑of‑work Jewish carpenter of no fixed abode. He soon discovers that while the name remains the same, the picture changes its appearance, its characteristics, according to the point of view.

Questions:

1. How much do you know about the Jesus of 2,000 years ago?
2. If you were a newspaper reporter, how would you describe Him, as opposed to His message? What sources would you use to build up your picture?
3. Someone comes up to you in the street, says “What’s so special about Jesus?” What would you say?
4. On the cross, Jesus quoted words from Psalm 22, ‘My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?’ Some say Jesus knew that the psalm had a happy ending, others say this was the cry of a defeated man. What do you think?
5. One of our witnesses said, “I think the power of Christ really lies in His ambiguity, the fact that we don’t know what He is, and that therefore there is a sense in which every person’s interpretation of Christ, however it varies, is a true one”. Who do you say that He is?

“He was abandoned by all the people who were with Him, but He was abandoned also by God Himself because this was His last word, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” And you see if he was not lost then, then also we are not lost and that’s the reason to look at His death because His death is an indication for us that we can have hope in all our loneliness, in all our misery, even in the deepest guilt and even in death.”      

Hans Kung