What makes Jesus so special?

In our gospel reading on Sunday (14th May), we heard Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:1–14).

Is Jesus really the life? What makes Jesus so special?

(1) No one else ever claimed to bring God to us. 
Jesus claimed that whoever had seen Him had actually seen God the Father, his daddy (John 14:9). And Jesus’ life, teaching, miracles, and fulfilment of prophecy backs up this claim.

(2) No one else has radically dealt with human wickedness.
Our world is broken and full of evil, including us! No other religion adequately deals with human wickedness. Confucius taught that human nature is essentially good, which is contrary to experience; Buddhism has no answer to human wickedness, just endless rules that help eliminate the self and all desire; Hinduism says that you pay for your misdeeds, again and again. Only Jesus says that God deals with human wickedness by paying for our sin himself. Read and meditate on 1 Peter 3:18.

(3) No one else has broken the final barrier — death.
Other religions offer little hope in the face of death: both Hinduism and Buddhism believe there is an afterlife, but it is nothing to look forward to — a person is endlessly reincarnated or reborn into a new body to pay for misdeeds from their previous incarnation; for Isalm there is also life after death, but there is little assurance you will reach paradise — it all dependent on the will of Allah. Only Jesus has defeated death himself, and he offers that life freely to you.

(4) No one else promises to live within his followers.
A follower of Jesus need not wait to come to God when they die, because Jesus promises to live inside his disciples now — by the power of the Holy Spirit. His Spirit helps you daily experience God’s forgiveness and mercy, guides and moulds you to be more like Jesus, and gives you power to bear witness to the Truth.

Jesus is special and utterly unique. Only he is the way, the truth, and the life.

If you are still seeking to test Jesus’ claims, the following books may help as you continue your search, or strengthen your faith further:

Michael Green, ‘But don’t all religions lead to God?’ — http://buff.ly/2pKrhHA
Geisler and Turek, ‘I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist’ — http://buff.ly/2pKMu47
Lee Strobel, ‘Case for faith’ — http://buff.ly/2pKJfK1