JESUS SAYS:
In Matthew 7:20 Jesus says that everyone is recognized by their fruit, by the actions they are doing. “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” We are able to look at how people act and get an idea of who they are. In the previous verses it is talking about how we can recognize the bad fruit from the good fruit, Jesus is helping us learn how to recognize different people. However this is not the same thing as judging. In MacArthur chapter 6 it talks about judging people and the consequences you can receive from it. “The context makes it clear that this is a call for charity and generosity in the judgements we make,” (pg. 144) “It is often necessary to make judgements, and when we do, we must ‘not judge accordingly to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement'” (John 7:24, pg. 144) To represent these truths taught by Jesus, I chose a mirror. It is a tool that helps us recognize ourselves and allows us to judge ourselves, but we have to use it righteously and look for those fruits that God has specifically placed in our lives so we are more easily recognized as his children. Jesus is the mirror because he allows us to see all of these things in ourselves.

JESUS DOES:
Jesus is like the lint trap in your dryer. He took all the unwanted sins of the world upon His shoulders and away from us. The lint trap takes away all the unwanted lint off of your clothes and gets rid of it so that its no longer your problem. In Isaiah 53:5 it says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Jesus went through so much just so that we don’t have too. More specifically in John chapter 9, it talks about Jesus being crucified “and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.” (John 19:17-18) He died taking our sins with Him. Another example of Jesus being like a lint trap and taking our sin is from Yancey chapter 10 “In a span of less than twenty-four hours, Jesus faced as many as six interrogations,” (pg. 196) Jesus went through so much, just for us, just so that we didn’t have to.

WHO JESUS WAS (HISTORICALLY):
When Jesus presented himself to Jerusalem, he came riding in on a donkey- symbolizing that he would be a king of peace. “and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” (Mark 11:2-3) This one specific act showed why Jesus came to earth, it gave a very clear idea to the people of that time period, and to us, why he was there. People have done many studies to parallel what Jesus did in the New Testament to what was predicted in the Old Testament- to sort out His fulfillment of the prophecies and who He was historically. However sometimes he just participated in events that regular people could have done just the same. “One approach taken by naturalistic scholars has been to look for parallels between Jesus and others from ancient history as a way of demonstrating that his claims and deeds were not completely unique.” (pg. 118 Strobel) Jesus did something that any King or leader could have done, however the meaning was the exact same. Jesus wanted to show that He was a human but at the same time that He had a very distinct purpose on this earth. For that very reason Jesus is like a picture frame holding pictures. He is able to take experiences and show us a very clear meaning of why they are happening and how it relates to the past and the present. Picture frames are able to hold a very clear picture for us and we don’t have to question the meaning. We can look at time of the past and relate it to the present as well.

JESUS DOES:
Jesus is like a candle, He is continuously forgiving people and giving them second chances and a candle is continuously being lit and given second chances to shine. Here is an example of Jesus giving His forgiveness in Mark, “And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” (Mark 2:8-11) Jesus is giving the man a second chance to live out his life. Now that everyone know that Jesus will give second chances, even to the worst of sinners they start seeking him out. “Perhaps prostitutes, tax collectors, and other known sinners responded to Jesus to readily because at some level they knew they were wrong and to them God’s forgiveness looked very appealing.” (Yancey pg. 152)

JESUS SAYS:
Jesus often has a deeper meaning. In the bible he often uses the phrase ‘You have heard it said….but I tell you the truth’ He simply wants us to see the whole picture that he has for us. He wants us to be sure that we are understanding what we are supposed to believe because He often had to correct past Pharisee teachings with this statement. “When He spoke of ‘what you have heard,’ He was describing the Pharisee’s teaching. And in each case, he refuted it. Again, He was not changing or expanding the law’s moral requirements; He was simply reaffirming what the law always meant” (MacArthur pg. 135) This makes Jesus kind of like a rug. You think that you understand the meaning of something, you see the top layer- much like a rug covering an area. Jesus then tells the true meaning and there is so much more there than you ever thought was possible. When you take away the rug there is so much more there, a whole other floor its a whole new discovery for you to explore. Here is an example of Jesus using those words and demonstrating more than the obvious in Matthew during on of His sermons, ““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

JESUS TO ME:
Before this unit if you asked me who Jesus was, I would have said savior, friend, father and so on. He is still all those things but now He is so much more. Jesus to me is the ultimate teacher. In this unit I have learned that he has different meanings in all that He teaches, He does so much more than just stating the obvious. This lead me to make the parallel that He is kind of like a puzzle, I have to take all the pieces and put them together to find out what is really there.