Jesus is a leader – Christopher L. Scott

One of the most effective evangelists in history, Billy Graham, believes, “The central message of the Bible is Jesus Christ.”

But who is Jesus?

Over the next couple days I am going to focus on the question of “Who is Jesus” based on the Gospel of Matthew and my own personal experience with Jesus Christ. After studying the book of Matthew and reflecting on who Jesus is to me, I believe that Jesus is a leader who teaches, equips, and serves through sacrifice.

First, let us see how Jesus taught throughout the Gospel of Matthew.

When reading the Gospel of Matthew, I can’t help but notice that Jesus is a teacher. The Gospel of Matthew quickly moves through Jesus’ family heritage, how and where He was born, His baptism from John the Baptist, and the three temptations He faced. As soon as Jesus finishes his 40 days in the desert facing the three temptations, Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been arrested, and Jesus travels to the Sea of Galilee where Matthew tells us, “From then on Jesus began to preach” (Matt 4:17). Up until this point in time, Jesus has not preached or performed any miracles.

So, who is Jesus?

Is he a leader? A teacher? A savior? A chosen one? A servant?

I believe, based on my reading of the gospels and my personal experience of Jesus working in my life, that Jesus is a leader. He is a leader of many things, but most of all he is a leader of the heavenly kingdom here on earth and unlike the expectations of the people at that time when he lived on the earth, he is not a positional leader. While here on earth he did not have a formal position as a leader or priest or king, but he held tremendous influence among the people at that time. Jesus had that influence as a leader because he cared for people, he taught them, and he sacrificed himself for them.

Jesus is a leader because he cares for others.

One of the things that encourages people to follow a leader is when he shows a sincere and genuine care for others. When people know you care about them, they will trust you and follow you. An example of this comes to mind when we read John 4 about Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus reached out to someone who never would have expected to even be spoken to, and he went beyond that by speaking into her life about her sin and teaching her about the kingdom of God and what it means to worship. He showed her kindness and love at a time when it was uncommon to even speak to a woman, and even more uncommon to speak to a Samaritan woman.