Jesus – What You Need to Know

It is getting harder to protect our identity.  Years ago I could shop at a store on a regular basis and the only identification I needed was a phone number where I could be reached if my check bounced.  In a small town in Kentucky, where I served my first church, downtown stores had counter checks.  I just wrote my account number in a box on the check and it was as good as cash.  You say you’ve never heard of a counter check?  You vaguely remember checks?  Stick with me here.

Soon, my driver’s license and social security numbers were required, and in an effort to catch criminals, merchants began installing security cameras to record my transactions.  As I transitioned from paper checks to a plastic card, my data was applied automatically to all of my transactions.  Finally, I entered the world of online shopping and rewards cards, which allowed chain stores to profile my purchasing habits and target me with Internet ads and individualized mailings.

Unfortunately, the stores where I shop are no longer the only ones who want my information.  Identity theft is on the rise, and I am now told my own government can hack my electronic devices to inspect my patriotism.  My world is nothing like the one I used to know when I used those counter checks.

As amazing, and perhaps disheartening as the disintegration of privacy might be, I find it even more astonishing that an ancient culture could leave us with the record of a historic figure more intimate than anything modern technology could craft.  His name was Jesus, and He is the most dissected personality in history.  Is there any lens through which He hasn’t been viewed?