Some years ago a homeless gentleman turned up on the doorstep of one of Britain’s YMCA’s. Disheveled and smelling to high heaven he sat in the doorway and sheltered from the rain. The following day he appeared again and took up the same position, and then the day after that. Soon the staff became accustomed to his presence, and despite the fact they sometimes had to step over him to get into the building, no one asked him to move. After many years the gentleman passed away, and the staff at the YMCA were stunned to receive the news that in his will the gentleman had left them a legacy of £2 million!
It just goes to show that you can never be quite sure whom you are talking to and that it is probably best not to rush to judgement. From a distance many people look at Jesus and assess him at best as an irrelevant do-gooder who left behind some great teaching. Those who knew Him well, however, including the apostle John, came to a different conclusion – unlikely as it may seem this penniless carpenter-turned-preacher from the backwater that was Nazareth, was none other than God in human flesh.