“Do you want to know what God is like? Look at me!” (John 14:9) “I am the only person who can lead you to God” (John 14:6). Jesus claimed to speak for God and do the things that only God could do, such as forgiving sin. In spite of that, many people like to think of him just as a great religious teacher, the founder of one of the world religions. They see him on the same sort of level as the Buddha or Mohammed.
However, what Jesus said about himself finds no equivalent in any of the other world religions. In fact, quite the opposite.
Buddha directed attention away from himself so that his disciples would not be distracted in their search for release from earthly sensations and pleasures. He did not see himself or any other teacher as essential to this search.
Mohammed, the founder of Islam, also pointed away from himself. Very little is said about him in the Quran. He insisted that he was only a man, without any supernatural powers beyond receiving the Quran from the hands of Allah.
Jesus was very different from these other religious figures. He had a great deal to say about himself. Muslim and Buddhist beliefs rest on the teaching of Mohammed and Buddha. Christian belief centres on the person of Jesus.
No-one in their right mind would dream of saying the things Jesus said about himself, unless they were true. Of course, you might think that Jesus was mad, or a confidence trickster. But when we look at the way Jesus lived, his compassion for those on the fringes of society and the quality and wisdom of his teaching. it is difficult to come to the conclusion that he was evil or insane.