Who is Jesus, Really?

More Than a Name

There’s a guy we talk about a lot around here. He’s the center of what we do and somehow steers us through the absolute chaos we tend to create. He’s been called playful, cunning, generous, fierce, beautiful, intentional, honest, free, humble, and true. What a guy, amirite? (And no, it’s not Brandon Heidemann.) Still not ringing any bells? One more hint — he’s been called the carpenter, the fisher of men, the bread of life, the lion and the lamb, the savior of the world.. Ah yes - Jesus.

We all carry pictures of Jesus around in our heads — sometimes the portrait is soft and safe, sometimes it’s dramatic and distant. If your mental summary is “born to Mary, turned water into wine, walked on water, died on a cross,” you’re remembering important events. But those are actions — things he did. What I want to press into here is the question many of us skip over: Who is Jesus to you? Not WHAT He did, but WHO He is?

Unboxing the Son of Man

John Eldredge nudges us toward something wild and freeing in his book Beautiful Outlaw, “Jesus is humanity in its truest form. His favorite title for himself was the Son of Man. Not of God — of man.” He didn’t do this to deny his divinity, but to show up fully as human: tender, brave, sorrowful, laughing, grieving, leaning into people, and leaning into God. If Jesus models the fullest, freest expression of being human, then meeting Him is a map for our own lives — not a rulebook to make us small.

The Bible doesn’t make this easy to reduce to soundbites. God says it bluntly: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9) Translation: you won’t box him neatly. You won’t fully understand him. You won’t get him into a tidy, Instagram-ready concept. And that’s actually an invitation — to stay curious, to wrestle, to live in a relationship instead of a checklist.

Who do YOU say He is?

So let’s get real. Who is Jesus to you? When you’re quiet with him — the boring, awkward, honest kind of quiet — what does he feel like? Playful or solemn? Close or distant? Liberating or limiting? Patient or impatient? Fierce or gentle? Is he the friend who shows up with a laugh, the teacher who calls you higher, the king who sits beside the lowliest, the shepherd who chases strays, or all of it at once?

Don’t give the “right” answers. We’re not doing Sunday School here. We want your wrestling, your questions, your contradictions. Maybe you’ve been hurt by a version of Jesus that felt small or punitive. Maybe you’ve tasted the savior who’s scandalously close. Maybe you’ve seen him in the quiet kindness of someone who stayed when everyone left. None of those experiences exhaust him. None of them disqualify you from asking honest questions.

The Ongoing Encounter

We are creatures in process. That means our understanding of Jesus will change, grow, and get more beautiful (and more complicated) the longer we live with him. Don’t be ashamed of the parts where you’re still figuring it out. Don’t put on tidy perfection for the outside world. Bring your real questions, your doubts, your awe, your goofy stories, your griefs. Bring them all.

Because if Jesus truly is humanity in its truest form, then meeting him will pull out the best — and the truest — parts of you. He meets us where we’re at so we can become who we were made to be. So — who is he to you, really? Take that answer seriously. Write it down. Pray it. Argue with it. And then come back and tell us about the ways that truer, freer picture of Jesus shapes the way you walk in the world.