Explaining Jesus to Muslims
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5. Jesus, God's Servant

His poverty
Jesus Christ was born in a stable and a feeding trough was his first bed. This was just the beginning of his life of poverty. As the apostle Paul said: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." It is the poor people who know their need of God rather than the rich, so Jesus' work was directed toward them. When preaching at Nazareth, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah and said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people."

The crowds that followed Jesus day after day were mostly poor people. His own family was poor. During his three years of teaching and healing people he had no place to call his home. He was often healing lepers, epileptics and demon possessed people, many of whom were in a pitiful state. Jesus was constantly on the move, preaching the gospel and healing people.

Read Matthew 4:23-25, 8:14-17 and 9:35-36 to get an idea of how Jesus was always helping people. People came to him with every sort of disease and he healed them all. They crowded around him, they touched him and never gave him any rest. He never took any payment for healing people. Some women who followed him used to prepare his food and care for his needs. Jesus identified himself with the poor and had pity on their miserable existence.

His Humility
(Read John 13:5-15 and Matthew 20:25-28)

Jesus Christ came into the world to be a servant, not to be served. He came to give us the example of a perfect man, and the perfect man is a servant, not a lord, because a perfect man is motivated by love for other people and not by selfish ambition. He came also as a servant because of his love for you and me, so that he could give his life for us. He said to his disciples: "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." And Jesus did just that on the cross. Jesus was the humble servant of whom the prophet Isaiah said:

"The Lord says, Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice, he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their trust. I, The Lord, have called you in righteousness, I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

His suffering
There are many facets to the suffering that Jesus bore. We should not think of prophets as people who were victorious and welcomed by everybody. They were often sent by God with an unpopular message of judgment. Men are basically selfish and evil, they desire power, riches and immoral relationships, they murder, steal and just don't care about the suffering of their fellow man. Prophets expose this evil and people don't like having their evil desires exposed. So like the prophets before him, Jesus was also rejected. Even though he performed miracles in their presence, the majority of people did not believe in him. They loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. So Jesus was rejected by his relatives, the people of his home town Nazareth and by the Jews in general.

Jesus' main enemies were the religious leaders. The very people who were supposed to be leading people to a closer relationship with God were leading them astray. They were hypocrites and Jesus denounced them for it. (Matthew 23:13-28) They were jealous of Jesus, because the crowds followed him and were impressed by his teaching with authority. The religious authorities argued with Jesus, criticized him and insulted him. They tried to trap him in what he said so that they could condemn him. They forbad people to believe in him and finally made plans to kill him.

Jesus could not even trust those who did believe in him, because he knew man's sinful heart. And many who did believe in him turned away when the teaching became difficult. Even his chosen disciples did not understand who he was and often didn't grasp the deeper meaning of his teaching. Peter, the leader of his 12 disciples, denied knowing him and another disciple, Judas, betrayed him. When he was arrested the other disciples all ran away.

His only true friend was God, whom he called Father. He spent much time in prayer, sometimes whole nights. To have time alone with God he had to get up very early in the morning and go out of town. Sometimes Jesus didn't have time to eat, because of the crowds. Some people said he was mad, while the leaders said he had a demon. On many occasions he was tired, thirsty and hungry. Marriage was not appropriate for this unique person, so he did not have the support of a wife and family. And Satan did not leave Jesus alone. He was often tempted, but he did not sin.

Jesus' greatest suffering occurred on the last day of his life when he was crucified on the cross. He knew all along that he would be crucified by evil men and he often told his disciples to be prepared for it, but they could not understand that their great prophet, the Messiah could die. The night before he died he was in great distress. His soul was deeply grieved to the point of death. He sweat drops of blood. It was not the physical suffering of being nailed to the cross, it was the fact that he was to carry the punishment for the sins of the whole world, which necessitated his being separated for a short time from fellowship with God his Father.

He was arrested and unjustly condemned by both Jews and Romans. The Jews spat on him and beat him. The Roman soldiers whipped him and mocked him. He was nailed to the cross at 9 a.m. outside Jerusalem, nails being driven into his hands and feet. Thieves were erected on crosses on his right and left. He was insulted and slandered and mocked by all who went past. Jesus' only response was: "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing." Darkness covered the land until midday. Jesus' suffering was at its greatest. As he paid the penalty for our sins, he was separated from fellowship with God.

At 3 p.m. he cried out: "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" His humiliation was complete, his work was finished. The apostle Paul helps us understand why God would allow his servant, the only perfect man to undergo such suffering and to suffer such injustice. He said:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:3-11)