Is Jesus Real?

"The way we may be sure that we know Him [Jesus] is to keep His commandments. Those who say, 'I know Him', but do not keep His commandments are liars, and the Truth is not in them. But whoever keeps His Word, the Love of God is truly perfected in Him." -[1 John 2: 1-5A].


People in Biblical times debated, even when He was alive- - who Jesus was?

"When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' "-[Matthew 16:14].

When Jesus came back to earth, to make Himself visible to His disciples, "they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost." - [Luke 24: 35-48]. It took even the disciples many encounters to grasp that Jesus really is the Son of God.

Today, some people claim that believing in Jesus is just about as rational as believing in fairies or unicorns. I have to say that that total dismissal of Christianity hurts my heart.

But I had received plenty of sarcasm and disbelief growing up. When I was young, my parents dutifully took me to church each Sunday, had me baptized, made sure  I received my First Communion, then had me Confirmed. As soon as that was all done, their attitude was that "we had been there, done that." My family identified as Christian - as in "not Jewish", "not Buddhist", etc. But I was confused as to what that really meant? Was it just a label?

After awhile, my mother began telling me that "Christianity is the opiate of the masses." It took me quite awhile to understand what she was even talking about. But after many conversations, she made it clear that religion was for folks who had no intelligence or money or prospects in life. When you have nothing going for you, she explained, the only way society can keep the dissatisfied from rebelling was the illusion of religion. (Ouch!)

Today, I see people trying to deny that Jesus even existed. Important archaeological work is ongoing, to prove Jesus really lived and breathed and walked among us. (In 2016, a tomb long-believed to have been Jesus' own was dug into and examined, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City).

In the end, whether that tomb, or the Shroud of Turin, prove Jesus' existence, it all comes down to personal belief: Even if we prove that Jesus lived, WHO was He and what does His Life mean to us?

What sometimes ensues, for some of us, is a kind of spiritual risk-reward analysis -- "I cannot prove the existence of God, or of His Only Son, Jesus. But I cannot disprove it, either." And so, how to live? As Albert Camus said, "I would rather live my Life as if there IS a God, and die to find out there isn't, THAN live as if there isn't and die to find out there IS."

Surely, a Christian Life is not easy. People look at me like I have lost all of my intelligence and common sense. On the new hit show Silicon Valley, a character tells a co-worker, "You can be openly polyamorous and people will call you brave. You can put micro-doses of LSD in your cereal and people will call you a pioneer. But the one thing you cannot be is a Christian."

Christianity has always been a persecuted status. It STILL is. Christianity has also always been misunderstood - as an illusion of Peace, as an affront to civilized society, as a radical foolishness.

Then, the question becomes not just WHO do we believe in, or WHAT to believe, but HOW to live?

I come back to this Scripture in 1 John:  HOW do we know Jesus and who He is? - By keeping His commandments. What are His commandments? - Jesus said: " A new commandment I give you, love one another as I have loved you." - John  13:34.  And, Paul said, "And now these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love; but the greatest of these is Love." -[ 1 Cor. 13:13].

This Love has saved me, has saved my life. I received no Love as a child. My whole childhood, no one in my family ever hugged me or said, "I love you". I went to school with black eyes. I went hungry. I had no friends.

To know Jesus is to know Love. I always loved my parents, they gave me life. But they seemed incapable of Love. As a two year old, I moved on- I raised myself, finding food, putting myself down for naps. As an adult, I have found, in the model of Jesus, the capacity to love and be loved. I am now married. I got my education. I am a mother, a friend, a sister-in-law, an aunt, a neighbor, a concerned citizen.


If anyone twists Christianity into something other than Love, they do not know Jesus, and they do not tell the Truth. For the Truth IS Love.

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