The reality is that not everyone in the world can be leaders. Most have to be followers. And the critical question is just who it is that we are following.
The news media have given a great deal of exposure to events in Waco, Texas, where a man who had taken the name David Koresh gained a following and led a number of his followers to a fiery death. What has really been behind it? the analysts have been asking. Was this final tragic end avoidable? or was it somehow built into the teaching and personality of this particular leader?
His assumed names were quite significant "David" after the greatest Israelite king who became a model for all future kings (and hadn't the Lord promised to send another king like David?) and "Koresh," the Hebrew version of the name of the Persian king better known to us as Cyrus.
Cyrus comes into the prophecy of Isaiah at the end of chapter 44 "I say to Cyrus, 'You are the one who will rule for me; you will do what I want you to do; you will order Jerusalem to be rebuilt and the Temple foundations to be laid'." And at the beginning of chapter 45 "The Lord has chosen Cyrus to be king! He has appointed him... To Cyrus the Lord says , '... you will know that 1 am the Lord and that the God of Israel has called you by name...'."
And that is recorded of him in the book of Ezra. He fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy that the Babylonian captivity would last for seventy years (25.11). Josephus says that he read Isaiah's prophecy about him and set about to fulfil it.
But David Koresh was not a person submitted to the Lord at all. His sixteen wives are part of the evidence of that! This week's Time magazine includes some of the last written letters of Koresh. He constantly makes "I AM" statements and signs himself
"Yahweh Koresh" - "Yahweh" (or "Jehovah"), the name of God. Was that the truth? No, it wasn't! His life and his death exposed the falsity of his claim and his great blasphemy against God!
We do well to listen to the warning of Jesus in Mt. 24.2325 - "Then, if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or 'There he is!' - do not believe him. For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive God's chosen people, if possible. Listen! 1 have told you this before the time comes."
Jesus Christ was a very different sort of person. He made many statements and inferences concerning his identity, but he didn't go around saying, "Look at me! I am the Messiah! I am the Son of God!" His claims were natural, not forced. They were mostly hidden, not paraded. They were supported by the integrity of his character.
Was he speaking the truth, or was he a fanatic? He couldn't be ignored.
On the one hand, his authority was recognised (Matthew 7.2829), the people glorified the God of Israel (15.31) and crowds welcomed him with "Hosanna to the Son of David" (21.9). But on the other hand, there was an undercurrent of opposition. This was highlighted when the crowds said, 'Ye have never seen anything like this in Israel!", but the Pharisees said, "It is the chief of demons who gives him the power to drive out demons" (9.3334). It was also clear in the attitude of the people of Gadara after he had healed the local madman (8.34), in the unbelief of those at Nazareth who were sceptical and rejected him (13.5456) and in the charge of blasphemy laid against him in the Jewish Council ( 26.65).
Why the sharp reaction to him? In part, it was his claim to forgive sins. Of course, all of us are able to forgive the sins of others against us. But only God can forgive sins in the absolute sense. What right did he have to identify himself so closely with God? to call God his Father?
In 11.29, Jesus describes himself as "gentle and humble in spirit". He certainly doesn't make his claims with the wild flamboyance of a fanatic. They are quietly but definitely in the background. He sought no great publicity for them (Matthew 16.20). "Whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it" (Mark 8.35). "Whoever rejects me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject him before the angels of God" (Luke 12.9). In today's reading, we hear him accepting Peter's description of him as "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16.1617). When asked by the High Priest, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?", he replied, "I am" (Mark 14.61 62).
John records a number of his sayings where he speaks of himself as "I am..." (as in 8.12; 14.6). The most dramatic of these is probably 8.58 "I am telling you the truth. Before Abraham was born, 'I Am'." The Jews picked up stones to throw at him. Why? Because he was identifying himself with the 1 Am of Exodus 3.14. In 10.30 we find him stating, "The Father and I are one" and the crowd responds in the same way.
Possibly no claim of Jesus is more daring than the claim that he would die and rise again. When Jesus first spoke this way to his disciples, they were so filled with horror at the thought of his death that they missed altogether the promise of his resurrection (Matthew 16.2122).
Probably the claim is most clearly stated in John 10. 1718 "The Father loves me because 1 am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again. No one takes my life away from me. 1 give it up of my own free will. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it back. This is what my Father has commanded me to do." It might seem easy to claim divinity, but to claim to have the power to die and then to rise again is another matter!
Yet this claim was the basis of his prayer and commitment in the Garden (Matthew 26.3646), His reaction to the crowd who came to arrest him (v. 53), his demeanour before Pilate (John 19. 1011)... When he was on the cross, was he unable to answer the taunts of the passersby (27.40) and of the religious leaders (vv. 42,43)? Had they gained mastery of him now?
These were the questions in the minds of the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus on the first day of the next week (Luke 24.1332). They had hoped that he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God, but all these hopes had been dashed because he had been crucified and had died. The discovery that he truly had risen changed the whole perspective from which they understood who Jesus is and why he had come.
David Koresh made big claims. Those who were convinced about him committed themselves to him, gave liberally to him, lived with him, were ready to obey his every wish, whim or command... One reporter who visited the compound spoke of his magnetic personality. He had an intensity that drew people to him, but at heart he was phoney and led them to spiritual and physical destruction.
Jesus also made big claims. But he made them gently, quietly, avoiding publicity. Jesus was calling people to a total commitment a commitment that would affect their whole lifestyle, the course of the rest of their life. But he didn't switch off their minds and he protected them from the death that was coming inevitably to him. He died for them and rose again. What a massive difference!
Peter had expressed his conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. In the events leading to the crucifixion, he denied three times that he was in any way associated with Jesus!
But now, in the light of the resurrection, the identity of Jesus is absolutely clear. He is, as Thomas put it, "My Lord and my God!" Paul writes of Jesus, "as to his divine greatness, he was shown with great power to be the Son of God by being raised from death" (Romans 1.4). He deserves and will receive my total allegiance!
Jesus is saying to us, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples..."
He is still the only genuine one, the only one who deserves our allegiance the total commitment of our life and lifestyle. Whatever else we may have to do and all of us face many priorities his mission and his call come to us with compelling urgency. It has been truly said that the Christians of this generation are the only ones who have ever lived who can seek to bring this present generation to know Christ. It is not simply that there will be an "end of the age", a conclusion of human history in the second coming of Christ. For every generation, the moment of opportunity the possibility of responding to Jesus Christ with positive faith is now. For each person the possibility of responding is limited limited to a lifetime.
The disciples began to see Jesus in a new light and to see the call to follow Jesus in a new light. He is not just a great man and a great teacher, a model and an example. He is the Son of God with all authority in heaven and on earth. Following Jesus means learning from him, but it also means being involved in his life and mission. It is responding to his will, obeying him "My Lord and my God!" For when we understand who Jesus is, there are immediate implications for our understanding of who we are and who we are meant to be!
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