Look through the annals of history and you will find many great and or powerful figures. Alexander the great, Gandhi, Muhammad, Columbus, Washington, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Constantine, Nero, Ramses, Moses, Noah, and so forth. The list goes on and on. Each of them has had a significant impact in the lives of those they came in contact with and for future generations.
But I have to agree with Reynold Price from Time Magazine when he writes "It would require much exotic calculation... to deny that the single most powerful figure-not merely in these two millenniums, but in all human history- has been Jesus of Nazareth"
Even our calendar is based upon his birth. His life and death continue to impact generation after generation. Wars have been fought in his name. The Power of his name is claimed by millions to heal, to save, to bring life, to bring joy. 167 years after Rome crucified him they worshiped him as a nation. The worlds most popular religions embrace him as an educator and teacher and some as God.
This one man, whatever you think of him, has influenced your life. You may love him, hate him, not believe in him, worship him as God, or just not care about him. But you can't escape his continuing influence in the world of man.
What did Jesus do that was so great? James Francis summarized his life.
"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office.
He never owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He had no credentials but Himself.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.
His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying -- and that was His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as that One Solitary Life. "
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