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"The Relevance of Jesus Christ"
Over the years it has been a real privilege to be associated in private with men and women in public life who meet, in a sense, like Nicodemus. Some of you, perhaps, have read of Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the Jews, who came to Jesus by night to have a discussion on things that were concerning him in those early days some two thousand years ago.

Likewise today many people in many lands are meeting off the record in private in service stations, in parliaments, in universities, in homes, in clubs, in caves, and around the world in many different ways these people gather together to discuss the relevance of Jesus Christ.

I thought this evening that perhaps the thing that I could share with you most would be what over the years as I observe these men and women as they gathered together. What have they discovered? Perhaps that could be of interest to you.

The one thing that they have discovered is that the greatest problem in the world is alienation. I don't know if you would agree, but I think if you think about it, you perhaps would agree that alienation is the major problem.

Because of alienation, we are building the mightiest armed forces in the world. We are having a race with the Soviet Union because of alienation. We can just think of last week and the week before in the Middle East, in the West Indies, everywhere, there are perhaps more actual little wars and larger wars today than ever in the history of the world. On practically every continent, alienation between nations and peoples, between races.

We have alienation in our homes. You all know the statistics quickly of the large number, over half of the people getting married, get divorced. Alienation between husbands and wives, between parents and children. Alienation at every level of society.

I've lived in Washington, D.C. since 1959, which is kind of the heart and center of the leadership of this great nation that is concerned about freedom and peace around the world. I have three daughters, a wife, three sons. I wouldn't let my daughters walk after seven o'clock in the evening ten blocks behind the Capitol. They're not safe. I wouldn't because of feelings of alienation.

Labor and management, black and white, rich and poor. Everywhere we look, we see alienation. What are we doing about it? We set up clinics, have counselors, psychiatrists, state departments, SEATO, NATO, disarmament conferences, SALT I, SALT II treaties. Think of the alienation over the years with our Native Americans in this country. We draft treaties, and they are constantly broken. We quarrel in the courts. It's all alienation. What's the solution to alienation?

The thing that we have discovered, and I think it is rather academic, is the word "reconciliation." If we are going to see alienation resolved, there has to be reconciliation. So what do we do? Well, we send teams throughout the world to discuss how we can have a better treaty. We build larger armaments. We have discussions and talks. We have all kinds of men and women who seek elected office who talk about peace in our time. They talk about solutions to peace, peace, and there is no peace.

The people in the east discuss peace and say that the people in the west aren't interested in peace, really. They only talk about it. The people in the west say that the people in the east are only giving rhetoric, that they are not really secretly interested in peace only domination.

So, everywhere people are trying to figure out ways to bring reconciliation to alienated societies. And I thought and thought a lot about how to reconcile people in my own life, and probably the greatest sufferings that I ever had personally in my own family and friends are those times when I felt alienated - alienated from other people, alienated from myself, alienated from God. And the big question is how can I ever get back to not feeling alienated.

As I considered this subject over the years, not only personally but with many friends, I have come to the view that the only solution to the subject of alienation, the only way that reconciliation can take place, is through another little word, the word "forgiveness." And that is where Jesus Christ comes in because he is the greatest authority on the subject of forgiveness the world has ever known. That's the reason he is relevant. He demonstrated forgiveness. He talked about forgiveness. He gave his strongest views, philosophy, and discussions on the subject of forgiveness.

If the problems in the Middle East are going to ever be resolved, some Jewish people are going to have to forgive some Arab people, and some Arabs are going to have to forgive some Jewish people. In the families, some mothers are going to have to forgive some children, and some children are going to have to forgive some mothers. Forgiveness is the key to bringing reconciliation. And Jesus Christ is the one who empowers and gives the strength to forgive.

So this evening what I would like to do is talk to you a little bit about this Jesus Christ who can give the power to forgive.

Today in our country we have many people who talk about Jesus Christ. I've met three people in my life personally who claimed to be Jesus Christ returned. I met a businessman from New York who once seemed like a very bright person. We sat down and I thought we were going to discuss some business, and then he leaned over and confidentially showed me a certified document which showed that he was actually Jesus Christ. Another man in Pennsylvania claims to be Jesus Christ. He has many followers. He has done some very remarkable things. You can open the Bible to any place in the Old or New Testament—you can read any place—and he can quote before and after. He has many young people who follow him. And so on around the world.

But the Jesus Christ of this Bible actually said that "people will come in my name and say 'come out here, I am Jesus Christ. Come over here.’”There are many Jesus Christs.

Today in America we have a Jesus Christ, kind of a lamp-carrying Jesus Christ. We have weekend Jesus Christs, that are discussed in our churches. We have Jesus Christs that are kind of strong, kind of the football type of Jesus Christ. We have a Jesus Christ whom we talk about in religious meetings who practically demands no dedication, no commitment.

So there are many Jesus Christs about today. There is the Jesus Christ whom some claim to be the founder of the Christian religion, and there is the Jesus Christ of the Bible.

And tonight I want to talk a little bit about the Jesus Christ of the Old and New Testaments so we can make it absolutely clear that it is the Jesus Christ of God that is the one who can give the power to forgive, which can resolve the problems of alienation.

I would like to point out a passage which had a great deal of meaning to me a few years ago when I was leaving for the Middle East because I was going to be visiting lands where it is against the law to proselytize or try to persuade people of other faiths (of the Islam or Jewish faiths) to become Christians. And I was wondering how could we discuss Jesus Christ in a situation like that.

I was reading one day a passage which opened up for me the answer and I thought I would share it with you this evening. One day Jesus was walking along with his disciples and as they were walking along, they saw a blind beggar along the side of the road. As they were walking, the disciples said to Jesus, "Master, whose sin caused this man's blindness, his parents' or his own sin?"

Jesus said, "This man was not born blind because of his sins or his parents'." It was kind of a religious view that I guess the disciples held, that anyone who was blind or ill must be blind or ill because he was a sinner. But Jesus said, "He was not born blind for that reason, but he was born blind so that the power of God could be seen in him."

And so Jesus stooped down and took some clay, moistened it with his spittle, put it on the man's eyes, and told the man, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." So off the man went and washed, and came home, and his sight was restored.

His neighbors and the people who had often seen him before as a beggar, remarked, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"

Others of the neighbors said, "No, this is not the one, but he's a man who looks like him."

And, of course, the neighbors then became of two minds about the man. So they asked the man who was formerly the blind beggar, "Are you the man?"

He said, "I am the man all right."

"How was your blindness cured?" they asked.

The blind beggar said, "Well, a man by the name of Jesus made some clay, put it on my eyes, and then he said, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So off I went, I washed, and I got my sight-"

"Well, where is he now?" they asked.

"I don't know," the blind beggar said.

The neighbors were confused about this so they brought him before the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And the Pharisees said to him, "How are you able now to see?"

The blind beggar said, "He put clay on my eyes; I washed it off, and now I can see. And that's all," he replied.

Some of the Pharisees commented, "This man cannot be from God since he does not observe the Sabbath." (Another religious view)

"But how can a sinner give such wonderful signs as these?" others demurred, and they were of two minds about him among the religious leaders.

Finally they asked the blind man again, "And what do you say about him? You're the one whose sight was restored."

"I believe that he is a prophet."

The Jews did not really believe that this man had been blind until they called in his parents. The parents came in. They questioned them. And they said, "This is definitely our son. He was born blind, but how he sees we do not know how that came about. He is our son, but we don't know. Ask him. He's a grown-up man. Ile can speak for himself."

The parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews who had already agreed that anyone who admitted that Christ had done this thing should be excommunicated.

So once again, they summoned the blind beggar and said, "You should give glory to God for this thing that has happened to you. We know that this man Jesus is a sinner."

Then the blind beggar began to speak to them in a strong way and he said this, "Whether Jesus is a sinner or not, I couldn't tell. But one thing I can tell you. I used to be blind and now I can see."

"What did he do to you? How did he make you see?" they continued.

The man said, "I told you before. Weren't you listening? Why do you want to hear it all over again? Are you wanting to be his disciples too?"

At this, the religious leaders turned on him furiously and said, "You are one of his disciples. We are the disciples of Moses.

We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't even know where he came from-"

"Well, that's a very extraordinary thing," said the blind beggar.

"You don't know where he came from, and yet he gave me the gift of sight. Everybody knows that God does not listen to sinners. It is the man who has the proper respect for God and does what God wants him to do: he's the one God listens to. Since the world began, nobody ever heard of a man who was born blind being given his sight."

At this the religious leaders became furious and they said, "You misbegotten wretch!" In the King James and other translations it says, "You bastard, are you trying to teach us?" And they threw him out.

Jesus heard that he had been expelled, and when he had found him, he said to the blind beggar, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Who is he, sir?" the man replied. "Tell me so I can believe."

"You have seen him," replied Jesus. "It is the one who is talking to you now."

The blind beggar said, "Lord, I do believe," and fell down and worshiped him.

And Jesus said, "My coming into this world is itself a judgment. Those who cannot see, have their eyes opened; and those who think they can see, become blind."

Let me tell you about the first encounter of Jesus with this blind beggar. First, he did not say, "If you believe in a certain set of information, then I will heal you." He had unconditional love for the blind beggar. He just helped him. He didn't help him if he believed certain things or said certain things. And when the blind beggar's sight was restored, the only thing that the blind beggar knew about Jesus was that a man by the name of Jesus put clay on his eyes and told him to go wash.

The blind beggar knew Jesus only as a man. Now who in the world thinks of Jesus as a man? Most people - most Marxists, Leninists, atheists, agnostics they all think of Jesus as a man. That's all right. That was his first view of Jesus.

But the more he got to know Jesus, the blind beggar went before the Pharisees and upon questioning with the religious people, they asked him, "Who do you think that he is?"

Then the blind man said, "I think he is a prophet." Who are the people in the world who think of Jesus Christ as a prophet? Buddhists, Moslems, Jews, many religious people think of Jesus as a prophet.

And as they questioned the blind beggar further and they discussed it, finally the blind beggar asked them, "Why do you keep questioning me? Do you want to be his disciples too?" Now who do you hear talking about being disciples of Jesus Christ? Christians, Catholics, Baptists, Protestants, Presbyterians - - all kinds of Christian people talk about being disciples of Jesus Christ.
And then finally Jesus Christ came and he said to the man, "Do you believe in the Son of God, in the Son of Man?" This is the first time that the blind beggar had ever actually seen Jesus, and then the blind beggar said, "Who is he, sir, so I can believe in him?"

Jesus said, "It is he who is speaking to you now."

And the blind beggar said, "Lord, I do believe."

In this passage you see really literally a representation of everybody in the world. It doesn't make any difference whether you start with Jesus Christ as a man, Jesus Christ as a prophet, Jesus Christ with the idea of being his follower (his disciple), but everyone in the world will some day come to know that Jesus Christ is the Lord. And every tongue will confess that he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.

Jesus Christ is able to perfectly represent himself. So wherever you start, wherever you are along your way, get to know about Jesus Christ. And that is what is happening in these little groups around the world, people centering around him.

The passage from the first chapter of Colossians is most interesting. Let me read a portion of it again. "Now Jesus Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. He existed before creation began. It was through Christ that everything was made, spiritual and material, seen and unseen. Through Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ were created power, dominion, ownership and authority. In fact, every single thing was created through and for Christ." Listen to this and consider the possibility of this next statement: "It was in Christ that the full nature of God chose to live and through Christ, God planned to reconcile in his own person everything on earth, everything in heaven by virtue of the sacrifice on the cross."

Then Paul goes on and says this, "We are those whom God has planned to give the vision of the full wonder and splendor of God's secret plan for the nations."

We have been discussing alienation at every level of society - personal, national, international - and God's secret plan for all nations is Christ in you. The secret is simply this: Christ in you.

"How I long for you to grasp this truth. God's great secret, Christ himself. I write this to prevent you from being led astray by someone or another's attractive arguments. Be careful that nobody spoils you or spoils your faith through intellectualism or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is both founded on men's ideas and the nature of the world in disregard to Christ. In view of these tremendous facts, don't let anyone worry you by criticizing what you eat or drink, or what holy days you observe. All these things have at most only a symbolic value. The solid fact is Christ."

Today when we have such great alienation, nothing seems to be working. About this Bible on which the President of the United States, the leaders of this city, the leaders of the nation take their oath of office, Lincoln said, "To take this book away from our country would be the greatest crime against the nation and the greatest crime against humanity-"

In the Bible it says that Jesus Christ is the one who gives the power to forgive. If you have the power to forgive, you can reconcile your differences with loved ones, with family, with nation, with children.

Give Jesus Christ a chance. Start wherever you want to with Jesus Christ. Get to know him and you will discover that he will give you the secret of life itself. God bless you.     

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