My grandma had a painting of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane that hung on her wood-paneled walls. In the picture, Jesus was Caucasian with light brown hair. He looked more like a Lutheran than a Jew. Even though the Bible describes the anguish that Jesus was facing in the garden, the artist portrayed him as, well, pretty.

Through twenty-some years of seeing images like my grandma’s painting and hearing Sunday school stories of a kind man who made sick people well and loved little children, my image of Jesus is off. I’m not saying that Jesus wasn’t a nice man, nor do I want to discredit the artist’s interpretation of Jesus’ humble state in the garden.

In my head, the person of Jesus who walked the earth was just an emo guy. He was in touch with his emotions and kind of wimpy. Jesus had no power, no glory, no authority to speak from. And because of this, reading through the gospels has always been an empty, dissatisfying experience for me.

But I am learning that Jesus is more than a baby who grew up to wear sandals and got twelve 20-year-old guys to follow him around. God convicted me last week that I don’t get Jesus. I understand the resurrected Jesus who single-handedly overcame death, but I don’t understand what that guy has to do with the Jesus who walked around offending the religious and got himself killed.

So I have been on a quest to rediscover Jesus, and this is what has unfolded:

Power at His Fingertips
In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:1-3

Jesus walked on the earth just as powerful as he was at the moment when he spoke and the earth, the stars, the seas, the animals, time, and space were created. He had all of the power in the world, but it was under control. At anytime, he could’ve snapped his fingers and destroyed the world, but he controlled his power and used it to bless other people.

He knew that Judas was going to betray him. Yet he did not run from his perpetrators, nor did he send lightning bolts to rid himself of his enemies. He walked into his suffering because he loved us and he loved the Father.

Eyes and Ears
He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. John 3:31-34

When Jesus came to earth, he had a couple thousand years of watching the world in its disarray to speak from as a platform. When he talks to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus knows that she has five husbands, not because of a mystic revelation, but because he is God and he sees and hears everything.

Similarly, when Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, telling them their religion is worthless, he speaks having seen their empty devotion and having heard their vain prayers. He knows that these religious people are no closer to him than the murderers and thieves because he sees their intentions and their hearts.

He is Truth
I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one gets to the Father except through me. John 14:14.

Jesus speaks what is true because he himself defines what is true. When he created the world, he defined what is real. Like the laws of physics, God created laws about how to live in order to experience a full life.  In the meantime, Satan has successfully deceived us into thinking that something else is real. He has made our culture believe that we as individuals define what is true. As a result, we have made ourselves a god. 

Since Jesus is truth, he cannot lie. His character reveals to us what goodness, love, and mercy are. Because he is truth, we can trust his words. And as we trust him, we experience life. 

This is the God that I want to worship—a God of power, omniscience, and truth. It beats a distorted view of a sandal-clad, emo man with twelve buddies. I want to worship a powerful God, one that I can rely on for truth and sustenance for survival in this world that is not my home.