The Misunderstood Christ

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. Show that there are only two real verdicts on Jesus — impostor or Son of God — and why no middle ground stands.
2. Trace who misunderstood Christ and in what ways.
3. Resolve to understand Christ as Scripture presents Him: Himself and His kingdom together.

Thesis

Jesus has been misunderstood by enemies, crowds, and even His own disciples; but His claims allow only two honest verdicts — base impostor or Son of God — and to understand Him rightly we must receive both Himself and His kingdom.

Burden

On the Emmaus road two heartbroken disciples said of Jesus, "we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). They had walked with Him, loved Him, and still misunderstood Him — they had the wrong kingdom in mind, and His death had shattered the wrong hope. If His own followers could misread Him that badly, we should be slow to assume we have Him figured out. The most dangerous mistake a person can make is not to reject Christ outright but to hold a comfortable, half-true version of Him. This lesson presses us to understand the real Christ.

Introduction

One great need stands over every other: a correct understanding of Christ — His divinity, His mission, His teaching. Few people reject Him in plain words; many simply misunderstand Him, and a misunderstood Christ cannot save. Boles works through the only possible verdicts on Jesus, who misunderstood Him, and the ways He was misunderstood.

I. Only Two Honest Verdicts (John 8:58)

Men like to place Jesus "somewhere in the middle" — a great teacher, a good man, a fine moral example, but not the Son of God. Boles shows that middle ground cannot hold, because of what Jesus claimed:

• He claimed to have come from God and to return to Him.
• He claimed to have existed before Abraham — "before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:58).
• He claimed the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:5-7). A man who says such things is either a base impostor (or self-deceived) or the Son of God. What He cannot be is merely a good man, for a good man does not make false claims to deity. The "great teacher but not divine" verdict is the one option His own words rule out. So the honest choices are two, and each person must take one.

II. Who Misunderstood Him (Matt. 11:1-6)

Misunderstanding Christ is not the failing of a few; look at the list:

1. The devil misunderstood — or tried to twist — His mission at the temptation (Matt. 4).
2. The Jewish leaders misread Him as a lawbreaker and blasphemer.
3. The common people wanted a bread-king and a deliverer from Rome (John 6:15).
4. Perhaps even John the Baptist wavered, sending from prison, "Are You the Expected One?" (Matt. 11:1-6).
5. His own disciples misunderstood His mission and His kingdom up to the very end (Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6). If the best of them stumbled, none of us may be careless about it.

III. How He Was Misunderstood

The misunderstanding touched nearly everything:

1. His mission — they looked for a political deliverer, not a Savior from sin.
2. His miracles — taken as a meal ticket or a show, not signs of who He was.
3. His relation to Jews and Gentiles — they could not grasp a gospel for all nations.
4. His teaching — heard literally where He spoke spiritually (John 3; John 6).
5. His silence — His refusal to answer or to seize power was read as weakness.
6. His church — confused then, as now, with an earthly institution rather than His blood-bought body.
7. His second coming — then and still, men recast it as an earthly, political reign, when Scripture teaches one visible, final return in judgment (Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:16-17). Misreading His kingdom as earthly is the old Emmaus mistake wearing new clothes.

Application

Examine the Christ you actually hold. Is He the Christ of His own claims — pre-existent, divine, with authority to forgive — or a trimmed-down version safe enough to admire and ignore? A merely good-man Jesus saves no one and was never offered. And test whether you have split what He joined: many want Himself — comfort, forgiveness, a friend — but not His kingdom — His reign, His authority, His church, His terms. You cannot have the King without the kingdom. Understand Him as He is, and submit to all of Him.

Conclusion

Jesus has been misunderstood by His enemies, His crowds, and His friends, in His mission, His teaching, and His return. But His claims leave only two doors: impostor or Son of God. And His message was always two-fold — Himself and His kingdom — and we cannot take the one without the other. A prayerful study of His life clears the fog; God wants men to understand His Son. Do not settle for a Christ smaller than the one who walked to Emmaus.

Invitation

To understand Christ rightly is to bow to Him — to receive both the Savior and His reign. He calls you to believe that He is the Son of God, to repent, to confess Him, and to be baptized into His kingdom for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16). Do not hold Him at the safe distance of admiration; take Him as Lord. If you have received the Savior but resisted His kingship, surrender the rest today. Come while we sing.

Word Study

• "We were hoping" (Luke 24:21, Gk. ēlpizomen, imperfect): a hope now past — the disciples' wrong expectation of an earthly redeemer, the very misunderstanding the risen Christ corrects from "Moses and all the prophets" (Luke 24:27).
• "I am" (John 8:58, Gk. egō eimi): Jesus' deliberate claim to the divine name (cf. Ex. 3:14); the hearers took up stones, understanding it exactly.

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