CHAPTER 5
"THE GREAT QUESTION"
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— 5 —
THE GREAT QUESTION
I
didn’t plan on reading ahead.
But
that night, after brushing my teeth and turning off the lights, I found myself
reaching for the Gospel of John again. I told myself I’d read a few verses.
Just enough to fall asleep.
Instead,
I stayed up past midnight.
Something
had shifted in me. I wasn’t just curious anymore. I was searching. And the more
I read, the more I felt like Jesus wasn’t simply teaching truths—He was
revealing Himself.
By the
time I met Sheldon again, I had read through chapter fourteen. He noticed the
tired look in my eyes the moment I sat down.
I
exhaled slowly. “Jesus keeps saying things that… I don’t know how to
categorize.”
Sheldon
smiled. “Good. That means you’re hearing Him.”
I
pulled the booklet from my jacket and set it on the table. “I’m starting to
think He wasn’t just a teacher.”
“He
wasn’t.”
“But
He also wasn’t just a prophet.”
“No.”
Sheldon
didn’t answer immediately. He let the question hang there, as if giving me
space to feel its weight.
“Let’s
talk about what you read,” he finally said. “What stood out?”
I
flipped to chapter ten.
“Here,”
I said, tapping the page. “‘I am the Door of the Sheep.’”
Sheldon
nodded. “What do you think He meant?”
“I’m
not sure. A door? That’s… strange. Who describes themself as a door?”
“Think
about it. A door is the way in. The way to safety. The way home. Jesus wasn’t
offering a philosophy. He was saying He Himself is the way into life with God.”
I
swallowed. “That’s a bold claim.”
“It
is.”
I
turned the page. “Then He says, ‘I am the Good Shepherd.’”
“That
one hit me hard,” I admitted. “A shepherd knows his sheep. Protects them. Leads
them. Even lays down his life for them.”
“Charlie,
Jesus wasn’t describing a distant, far away deity. He was describing a
relationship—one where He knows you personally and cares for you deeply.”
I
stared at the words again. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the
sheep. I didn’t fully understand it yet, but something about it felt…
beautiful. Costly. Personal.
I
flipped ahead to John eleven.
“This
one,” I said quietly, “this one stopped me cold.”
I
remembered reading the story—Jesus arriving after Lazarus had already died,
Martha running out to meet Him, grief and hope tangled together in her voice.
And then Jesus saying something that made me sit up in bed.
“He
said, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life.’”
I
looked at Sheldon. “Who talks like that?”
“Only
someone who believes He holds power over death itself.”
I
shook my head. “It’s not just what He said. It’s what He did. He called Lazarus
out of the tomb. And Lazarus actually walked out! Alive! After being dead for
four days!”
Sheldon
nodded. “That moment changed everything for the people who witnessed it. And
it’s meant to change everything for us too.”
I felt
a chill run through me. Jesus spoke to death like it was something He could
command.
I
turned to one last passage—John fourteen.
“This
one confused me,” I admitted. “‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’”
Sheldon’s expression grew thoughtful. “What confused
you?”
“He didn’t say He knew the way. Or that He taught
the truth. Or that He offered life. He said He is those things.”
“It
is,” Sheldon said gently. “But it’s also incredibly personal. Jesus wasn’t
closing the door on people—He was showing them where the door actually is. He
was inviting them to be included.”
I sat
back in my chair, overwhelmed.
“Sheldon…
if these statements are true, then Jesus isn’t just a wise man or a spiritual
guide.”
“No,”
he said softly. “He isn’t.”
“He’s
claiming to be… more.”
Sheldon
nodded slowly. “Yes. That’s the great question, Charlie. The one every person
eventually has to face. Who is Jesus? Not who do people say He is. Not who do
religions say He is. Who do you say He is?”
The
question hit me harder than I expected.
I
looked down at the booklet. I thought about the miracles, the compassion, the
authority, the gentleness, the power, the love. I thought about the way Jesus
spoke—calm, confident, unhurried, as if He knew exactly who He was and why He
came.
“I
don’t know,” I whispered. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”
“That’s
all Jesus asks right now,” Sheldon said. “Keep seeking. Keep reading. Let Him
show you who He is.”
I
stared at the table for a long moment.
“Sheldon…
what if I’m afraid of the answer?”
He
didn’t look surprised. “Most people are. Because if Jesus really is who He
claims to be, then everything changes.”
I
swallowed hard. “That’s what scares me.”
Outside,
the afternoon sun slanted through the windows, casting warm light across the
table. People chatted, laughed, typed on laptops—living their ordinary lives.
But inside me, something was shifting. Something deep. Something I couldn’t
ignore anymore.
I
closed the gospel booklet and slipped it back into my jacket.
“I’ll
keep reading,” I said quietly.
Sheldon
smiled. “Good. Because the next chapters will take you somewhere you can’t
avoid forever.”
“Where?”
He
held my gaze. “To the moment when Jesus shows you exactly who He is—and why He
came.”
As I
walked home, the question echoed in my mind with every step. Who is Jesus? Not
the Jesus of childhood memories. Not the Jesus of cultural debates. Not the
Jesus of assumptions or secondhand opinions.
The
Jesus who said, I am the Door. I am the Good Shepherd. I am
the Resurrection and the Life.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The
Jesus who was either telling the truth… or making the most outrageous claims in
history.
For
the first time, I realized the question wasn’t academic. It was personal. And sooner or later, I would have to answer
it.
“But who do you say
that I am?”
—Matthew 16:15—
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