What Was He Doing Here?

We can all have opinions about why Jesus came. Maybe He came to help the poor and marginalized people. Maybe He came to preach. Maybe He came to be an example. We can all think of reasons. But what reasons did He offer? It seems like the best way to know why He came would be to hear why He said He came.

Jesus came with specific work in mind (John 17:4). First and foremost, it was to glorify the Father (John 12:27) But there was obviously more. It turns out that one of the reasons Jesus said He came was to preach (Mark 1:38). Part of that was explicitly to testify to the truth (John 18:37). Jesus came to do certain things, too. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matt 5:17). Jesus said, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45). Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32). We all agree that Jesus came to "make nice." He didn't come to be judgmental, but to be accepting. Jesus said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) But He also said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." (Matt 10:34-35). He said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." (John 9:39).

According to Jesus, then, He came to glorify God by testifying to the truth and fulfilling the law. He came to serve by giving His life as a ransom, to call sinners to repentance, and to save the lost. He came to bring a sword between people. He came for judgment.

Scripture has a lot to say about why Jesus entered our world in human form. Some of it is unexpected. We really like the "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" line (John 10:10). Less comfortable is the "give His life a ransom for many." That's too close to saying that we needed to be saved from sin. John wrote, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8). And now we're back at that "evil" thing. We like the thought that Jesus came "to proclaim good news to the poor," "to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19). Good stuff. But that judgment stuff isn't as popular with a lot of people. Jesus came to die on our behalf. In truth, it's very good news. It's just not necessarily what some of us thought He came for.